VH-BCG    Auster III                                           (c/n  615)

                                 
                               
                                     VH-BCG was built for the RAF in 1943 as NJ785.   It was shipped to the Royal Australian
                                     Air Force in 1945 where it was allotted the serial number A11-40.  Since the war was winding
                                     down by then, the RAAF stored it and sold it as surplus to Kingsford Smith Aviation Services
                                     in Bankstown in 1947 for 1000 quid.  (Pretty good price, the Commonwealth got for it in those
                                     days, if you ask me).   It entered the civil register as VH-BCG registered to Bluebird Air Taxi
                                     Service of Bankstown.  It is still current.  The above shot was taken by Bob Neate at at Mildura
                                     in September 1962.    The color impression below is from the Ian W. O'Neill collection (taken
                                     by the late Peter Keating) and depicts it at an Auster rally in St. Arnaud, Victoria, in 1991, with
                                     the civlian cabin window treatment repaired back to its wartime greenhouse.