VH-CAU  Aero Commander 560E                     (c/n  726-51)

                              

                                    VH-CAU was one of four Aero Commanders ordered by the Department of Civil Aviation in
                                    the late 1950s to replace its Avro Ansons.   The aircraft was ferried by DCA pilots from the USA
                                    early in 1959. The photo above is from the Ian D Johnson collection (via the CAHS archives).
                                    Greg Banfield provides a couple of shots of it (below) in later years after the Department had sold
                                    it off.   The upper one shows it outside de Havilland's at Bankstown in April 1972 whilst it was with
                                    Blue Metal Industries Ltd, while the lower image, also at Bankstown, was taken somewhat later, in
                                    September 1990 when -CAU was owned by W.V. Ritchie of Wahroonha, NSW.  Looks like the
                                    signwriter hadn't gotten around to putting in the caps on the  'Greater Northland Air Safaris' tiling.
                                    The fifty-year old machine is still current, and Greg Banfield saw it at Bankstown in April 2001 in
                                    a rather plain livery (foot of page).