VH-BBY  (1)     Avro 652A Anson 1        

                                      
                                   
                                         This rough, but rare image from Alex Sidharta in Indonesia purports to show VH-BBY, an Anson
                                         (ex AX505) which was civilianized on 7 October 1947 and chartered by the fledgling Indonesian
                                         Airways.  Can you contemplate flying from any part of Australia (even Darwin or Wyndham)
                                         across the shark infested Timor Sea  to any part of Indonesia (say Timor or Sumba) in an Anson?
                                         Nevertheless,  this feat was evidently common enough in those days. A number of other VH- Ansons
                                         made that crossing from Darwin and Wyndham to Koepang.    Two were delivered to the Portuguese
                                         Air Force on Timor, Eric McIllree ferried four in a formation to England for resale, and various examples
                                         were flown to Singapore, and to Hong Kong for Cathay Pacific, etc., plus the two delivered to the
                                         Indonesian rebels, VH-BBY and -AGX.
                                         VH-BBY was sold in November 1946 by the Commonwealth Disposals Commission at RAAF Evans
                                         Head to Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade, Brisbane.  QATB had purchased a number of
                                         disposals at that time, including several Tiger Moths.  Anyway, -BBY was sold off to Air Traders Co
                                         and received its civil CofA in November 1947.   It then departed Archerfield for Darwin in December
                                         on delivery/charter to the fledgling Indonesian Airways.  The pilot was  Captain H. Keegan, Chief Pilot
                                         of Air Traders Co. He was aged 25 and was employed as a pilot with Aircrafts Pty Ltd, Archerfield.
                                         On 9 December 1947 Keegan flew the aircraft to Singapore where he met an Indonesian merchant
                                         named Mr. Tamini. who, along with with Burmese businessman Mr. Savidge purchased the aircraft
                                         for the Indonesian Republic.  Keegan then flew it to Sumatra and thence on to Singora, Siam with
                                         pilot Lt.Col. Iswahjudi, and Vice Air Commodore Halim Perdanakusama.       At Singora, Keegan
                                         handed the aircraft over to the two Indonesians, and flew back to Darwin via commercial airline.
                                         Sadly, on the  return trip from Siam to Indonesia the Anson crashed into the sea just off a beach
                                         on the Malayan coast, 80 miles south of Penang.   The wreckage was found at low tide and a press
                                         report says the registration VH-BBY had been painted over.  A decapitated body was found floating
                                         in the sea, carrying the identity card of Air Komodor Abdul Halim. 
                                         Keegan later reported that the Indonesian Republicans "treated me like a king, and from what I saw
                                         up behind their lines, I have a great sympathy for them.  The Indonesians suffered a great loss in the
                                         death of these two fliers, they were really good lads and great airmen."  Clearly two of the 'founding
                                         fathers' of post war Indonesian aviation were lost in the tragedy.
                                         VH-BBY had been allocated the registration RI-003 for the embryo Indonesian Airways (or Air
                                         Force, whatever the entity was considered).  Unfortunately the machine crashed before this regis-
                                         tration could be taken up, and it was assigned to a Stinson L-5 later.    At that tine the Dutch were
                                         attempting to tenaciously hold on to their East Indies empire and, so far as I know, ICAO never
                                         officially sanctioned the prefix RI- for the Republic of Indonesia (since it was not truly a Republic
                                         at that time).   Several machines had been acquired at that time for use by either the newly forming
                                         airline or national air force for the country.  They were:-   two DC-3s, RI-001 (ex VR-HEC) and
                                         RI-002, a Stinson L-5 RI-003, another Anson RI-004 (ex VH-AGX) and two Catalinas, RI-005
                                         (ex VH-BDP) and RI-006. 
                                         Marco Pennings of the Dutch Aviation Society paid a visit to the old Bukit Tinggi airfield site in
                                         Sumatra in 2008 and took the shot below of the memorial erected to honor the dead aviators.
                                         I imagine the 'tin' Anson was probably made from old Piper Apache parts or some such!   Marco
                                         also provides the picture of Capt. Keegan at the foot of the page, taken at Bukit Tinggi in 1947.