VH-CAI   Swearingen SA26AT Merlin IIB                          (c/n  T26-103)

                                  

                                        VH-CAI was the first of four Merlin IIBs (the Department also had two Merlin IIIs) purchased by
                                        DCA in the late 60s, early 70s.  This aircraft was first registered in August of 1968.   John Wheatley's
                                        shot above was taken at Mascot, circa 1971.   In 1974 it was transferred to the Papua/New Guinea
                                        Region and since, by that time, that nation had acquired its independence, it was loaned to PNGs Civil
                                        Aviation Authority as P2-CAI.   It returned to the mainland in 1979 (still as VH-CAI) and was sold in
                                        the US as N136SP in the late 1980s.  The photo below, from the CAHS collection, shows it at
                                        Essendon in April 1988 after it had been withdrawn from DCA service.