VH-AFR  de Havilland D.H.60G Gipsy Moth   (c/n  ?)

                        

                            Why does this D.H.60G have such a "late" registration?   i.e. it should have been a VH-U-- should
                            it not?  The reason is, until the fall of 1945 it had always been a military machine.   It was purposely
                            built by Larkin Aircraft Supply Co as A7-49, one of a batch which were used as trainers by the RAAF
                            before WW II..   Their c/ns are not really known.  It was sold at the end of the war by Commonwealth
                            Disposals Commission for 125 pounds to experienced aviator Jack Hodder, then at Essendon who later
                            set up a maintenance business at Parkes, NSW specialising in older type aircraft.  -AFR had several
                            owners before crashing on landing at Kerang, Victoria on 24 January 1950   The shot from my collection
                            (above) was outside the de Havilland of Australia plant at Bankstown in 1949.   The photo immediately
                            below (The Collection p1234-0046) shows -AFR at Essendon in March 1949.  Finally, Geoff Goodall's
                            picture at the foot of the page is a take-off of an official photogrsph.    The wrecks of -AFR and Moth
                            -UFV were later acquired by Tony Fisher and stored on a farm at Jerilderie NSW for many years until
                            acquired in 1978 by Jim Starr who is rebuilding -UFV to fly.