VH-RHH Beech
D-35 Bonanza
(c/n D-3434)
The above shot is from the Daryl Mackenzie
collection
of Bonanza -RHH at Bankstown in the
1960s,
whilst Greg Banfield's nice color representation (below) was at Orange,
NSW in Feb
1966.. Note
wing tip tanks (probably Osborne
manufactured). Livery is somewhat odd with
orange (or Dayglo?) tip
tanks, undercarriage wheel doors and spinner. Although a
1953 model,
it was not
registered in Australia until June of 1960,
and was previously N2087B. It was initially
owned by R.H.
Hamblin* of Tholloloboy
Station, Hillston NSW,
who had previously owned the
Proctor VH-BJY
and Austers VH-ADT and -KCB..
Press announcements had been made in
April
1960 that
Australian Aircraft Sales of Sydney
(Honest John Conley) intended to import 28
second-hand
Bonanzas from the USA
for resale in Oz. The announcement
stated that the
Bonanzas
would arrive at
fortnightly intervals. The first of this batch was VH-BBQ
followed by
-BBR and
-BBT. VH-RHH was one
of the these second-hand imports. It is still current and
registered to a
company
in Murwillumbah, NSW.
* Soon after he got the Bonanza, Hamblin set
off on a holiday trip around Australia, and
press reports state that he was at Onslow WA on 8 August 1960 when he
flew -RHH
in support of
local police searching for a fugitive on a stolen motorcycle 100 miles
north
of
the town. When they spotted him, Hamlin landed on a rough dirt track to
allow the
police to make
their arrest
