
VH-ANT
'Wandana'
c/n 10078
Essendon, 1955
This aircraft was built as a
C-47A-50-DL with USAAF serial number 42-24216. It
was procured from war surplus by ANA in
1946. It passed to the Ansett-ANA con-
cern in 1957 and in 1958 was
converted to a freighter. The shots below are from the
Peter Gates collection and shows it,
(i) at
Brisbane in its ultimate (Australian) livery,
and (ii) carrying the registration
XW-TDK, prior to being flown to Cambodia where
it had been sold following a
decade of cargo work in Australia. Now, it turns out that
XW-TDK should really have been XW-TDM,
so either the sign writer got it wrong or
(more
likely) the paperwork emanating from Cambodia was screwed up. In the
event, it
probably left Australia as it is seen
here and was repainted upon reaching Phnom Penh.
It
was shot down in Cambodia by
communist rebels in 1973.

