VH-BAA Douglas
DC-3CS1C3G
(c/n 13084)

Here's VH-BAA at Essendon on
Christmas Eve 1960, only months after was purchased from
Qantas
with whom it had served since 1947, first as VH-EAL, then as VH-EBH and
finally as
VH-EBW (in 1958). It retains the basic Qantas scheme as used on
Qantas' Papua New Guinea
internal services prior to TAA taking over their these routes in
1960. It is seen again at Essendon
(below) in December 1963, this time wearing
standard Brain & Brown Airfreighters scheme for
cargo runs to
Tasmania, King Island and Flinders Island. The final shot at the
foot of the page
shows it in 1976
after the company been restructured as BBA Cargo and acquired an an
Argosy
turboprop to add
to the fleet. VH-BAA was subsequently retired at Essendon
in 1979 and taken
by
road to Warbirds Aviation Museum at Mildura, later dismantled again and
moved to Mareeba
Qld for
display in WW2 military scheme by North Queensland Warbirds.
All three of the fine
images in this entry were taken by John Hopton.

