VH-APN (2)  de Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth                  (c/n DHA331/T118)

                          
         
                               This is the second Tiger to bear the rego VH-APN.  The first (c/n 83045) was sold in Singapore
                               in 1949 as VR-SCY.    This one was ex A17-312 and was sold by the Commonwealth Disposals
                               Commission at RAAF Temora on 6 September 1946 to the Association of Australia Aero Clubs
                               for 100 pounds as part of the bulk Tiger purchase by the clubs.  Nothing more was heard of it then
                               until it was registered VH-APN in November of 1961 to Queensland Airplanters Pty Ltd at
                               Childers, Qld., later Bundaberg.  This company specialized in dusting and seeding originally with
                               Tigers and Dragons, and later with Callairs and more modern aircraft.   -APN was sold to a private
                               owner in November 1964, no doubt as part of the DCA regulation requiring agricultural operators
                               to reduce their Tiger Moth fleets by a third each year for 3 years up to 1966 when the type was
                               banned definitively from further crop dusting duties due to the high pilot casualty rate.  It had several
                               subsequent owners, although is no longer on the register..    It is seen above in an image from the
                               John Wheatley collection in a most attractive finish.   .