VH-EXX  Aero Commander 680FL Grand Commander              (c/n  1295-6)

                                    

                                        This Grand Commander was formerly N6321U.  I assume it carried its US rego at some point.  The
                                        thing is, when the VH- identity was painted on, why was the Aero Commander traditrion of putting it
                                        in minuscule font at the tip of the fin adhered to?    Was it considered  'cool' or was the rego painted
                                        on by Aero Design in the US?   The above shot (via the Barry Collman collection) was taken by Mike
                                        Madden at Essendon in November 1971 just arfter -EXX had been acquired by Executive Air West
                                        from QASCO, who were based in Perth, WA.   It had been modified for cloud seeding work and
                                        part of this system can be seen on top of the rear of the nacelle.  And unless the coloration in John
                                        Wheatley's shot below is off, a slight change has been made to the trim, with the secondarey color
                                        having been changed to black from mid blue.  This machine had several periods during its career
                                        when it was 'off register' and was then re-registered VH-JDA in December 1984.  It did not re-
                                        main long as such, being re-registered again as VH-DCA in April 1985.       I believe it may have
                                        been sold in the US in 2000, although no longer appears to be current.