VH-BEC  CAC CA6 Wackett Trainer                  (c/n  373)

                              

                                  Not a bad shot by Barry Maclean considering how difficult it is to take decent photographs in
                                  museums.  This Wackett is on display at the Central Australian Aviation Museum at Alice Springs.
                                  Ex A3-139, it was civilianized in 1953.  This is the aircraft which sadly was lost on a flight from
                                  Cedena, SA to Cook on 14 January 1962..  The compass had come loose from its mounting
                                  resulting in an incorrect heading being flown.   The photo below, from the Geoff Goodall collection
                                  was taken by the crew of the Adastra Aerial Surveys Hudson that spotted it on 28 March 1965 in
                                  the vasts of the South Australia desert, the first sighting since it went missing in January 1962   The
                                  full and poignant history of this event and how the missing aircraft was discovered is covered Ron
                                  Cuskelly's entry at:   http://www.adastra.adastron.com/people/wackett.htm