VH-ADL  Bristol 170 Freighter 31      (c/n  13193)

                           

                               This is the Mark 31 Freighter as evidenced by the dorsal fin. (It also has windows in the nose
                               doors).  It was built for, and operated by, the Pakistani Air Force as S4438 before being
                               civilianized as AP-AMD.  It was imported into Australia in 1962 ostensibly to run freight
                               services for IPEC, a Melbourne based cargo outfit, but at the time was denied landing rights
                               in the State of Victoria (political issue).   The above photograph was taken by Richard Maclean
                               at Essendon.  In 2006 I received the very nice shot of it (immediately below) from Peter Gates,
                               taken at Archerfield,  Brisbane probably in the 1970s, when it was all decked out in AEI/Mayne
                               Nickless livery.    VH-ADL is now in the "junkyard" at the Australian National Aviation Museum
                               at Moorabbin, having previously been part of the ill-fated Wangaratta Airworld collection.  It was
                               hoped to restore it, but funding at the Moorabbin museum is virtually non existent, and so here the
                               poor thing languishes, as seen in the June 2006 shot by Phil Vabre at the foot of this entry.   For
                               more history on VH-ADL go to:
                                                                        http://www.aarg.com.au/freighter.htm