VH-AUB  CAC CA18 Mustang 21               (c/n   1432)
 
                        

                            Clearly this was not the first VH-AUB (although, from a date of build standpoint it probably could
                            have been).   This shot was taken by Richard Maclean in 1959 in the lee of the stand of fir trees
                            which used to adorn the east side of Moorabbin Airport  (nowadays long gone, of course).  The
                            CA18 was the wholly Australian-built version of the North American Mustang.  120 of them were
                            built in 1946-47 at  Fisherman's Bend, Victoria. The CA17, of which many more were constructed,
                            was made from American parts shipped out to Australia.   This mark 21 was owned, at the time this
                            photograph was taken, by Aubrey Oates, hence the -AUB.   It is still in flyable condition and, as
                            is the want these days, all decked out as a 'warbird'.   Barry Maclean took the contemporary shot
                            of it (below) at Mangalore, Victoria, wearing its authentic RAAF serial.