VH-RAE  Ryan STM                                                   (c/n  467)

                                    

                                          The inscription under the rear cockpit reads 'John Bange - Clifton, Qld'.  The above photo, by
                                          Bob Livingstone (via the Geoff Goodall collection), was taken at Bange's farm at Clifton, Queens-
                                          land  in October 1966.  In the image below, courtesy of the John Oxley collection, State Library
                                          of Queensland, John, who was noted for building gliders, is seated in the cockpit of the diminutive
                                          Ryan.   Paint scheme was a gaudy blue fuselage with a red arrow outline in white, and with yellow
                                          wings.   John had a vintage Porterfield, VH-UVH  which also lived on the farm and was painted
                                          in an identical color scheme.   At the foot of the page is an earlier shot of -RAE taken at Coota-
                                          mundra in May 1962.    This ex NEI Navy STM was previously S-31.     It escaped from the
                                          Japs in the Dutch East Indies and went to the RAAF in 1942 becoming A50-2.  A crash in June
                                          1944  labeled it as only fit for 'conversion to components' at the end of the war.       Clearly that
                                          didn't happen, since it was civilly registered VH-ARS in October 1946.   It was further withdrawn
                                          from use in 1949 and again in 1951 and then restored as VH-RAE (for Robby's Aircraft of Para-
                                          field) in 1953.   Finally, it had another crash when it struck power lines at Clifton on 14 February
                                          1970 at Clifton in 1970, and was again withdrawn from the register.   It is reputed to be under a
                                           long term rebuild in NSW (2010). .