VH-BKA  de Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth               (c/n  DHA404)

                                                                                     

                                   This Tiger had had a series of identities before becoming VH-BKA in 1957.  It was civilianized
                                   early in 1947 as VH-AXT (for some reason its original allocation of VH-AXO was not taken up -
                                   probably a prohibited marking at the time).  It became VH-BXT in April 1951 when the VH-AX*
                                   series was re-registered and then went to the Royal Victorian Aero Club as the first VH-RVH in
                                   1954.   The club sold it off in 1957 when the Chipmunks started arriving and it ended its days as
                                   VH-BKA.  It was actually the second aircraft to assume that rego, the first being an Anson with-
                                   drawn from use in 1951.   Bob Neate's photo (above) shows it at Moorabbin in 1961 as a sprayer
                                   with Tinamba-based Farmair.  Rod Adam's photo (below) was taken at West Sale in January 1963
                                   with slightly changed FarmAir titling.   -BKA was written off in a crash at Derrinallum, Victoria on
                                   10 September 1964.   That these aggie Tigers were swapped around operators with impunity like
                                   trading cards (although sometimes they were subsidiaries of the same holding company) is evidenced
                                   by the photograph at the foot of the page by Jeff Atkinson (via The Collection p1234-2420) taken
                                   at Moorabbin in 1957 whilst -BKA was in use a sprayer with Victorian Aerial Farming Aids.