VH-TAC (2)   Douglas DC-4                                             (c/n  7466)

                               

                                         VH-TAC was an ex C-54A--5-DO built in 1943 with serial no 411-107447.  It was
                                         civilianized in 1946 for the (then) Argentinean national carrier Flota Aerea Mercante
                                         Argentina (FAMA) as LV-ABP.. TAA purchased it in 1954, and it was named  'John
                                         Gould'  and then renamed 'Nat Buchanan' when the Viscount VH-TVP took the
                                         former name.  It was the first of  TAA's DC-4s to be relegated to freighter duties (in
                                         1959) and, like VH-TAB, did a stint under lease to Ansett-ANA (in 1969). 
                                          My shot above was at Essendon in 1955 while the image immediately below, by
                                          the late Greg Banfield, was taken at Mascot in December 1963 showing -TAC as a
                                          'Cargo Master'.     The shot at the foot of the page (also by Greg) was taken at
                                          Mascot in April 1970 and shows  -TAC having now been modified to include
                                          a DC-6 style radar nose.  It was sold to Air Siam in August 1970 becoming HS-VGX.
                                          Eagle Aircraft in the U.K. acquired it in 1974 when it was registered G-BCDT before
                                          going to Royal Air Lao in 1975 as XW-PKH.     It was destroyed in 1975 at Phnom
                                          Penh Airport during a Communist attack.