VH-TFO  Cessna 402                                           (c/n  402-0126)

                              

                                   Ferried to Australia as N4026Q, VH-TFO was delivered to Thunderbird Aviation in October
                                   1967.    Tamworth-based Thunderbird was a charter company that had been licensed  to take
                                   over East West’s DC-3 route from Sydney to Scone and Quirindi.     Services started as “on-
                                   demand charters” using Cessna 337B VH-DQY pending the arrival of –TFO.     More delays
                                   meant scheduled third-level services did not start until March 1968   . They abruptly ceased in
                                   November.       -TFO passed to Nationwide Air Services, another third-level airline, and was
                                   photographed in its markings by David Carter at Mascot  on August 29, 1969.     In the 1970s
                                   it was acquired by yet another airline, Bush Pilots Airways  . The hard-working 402 was with-
                                   drawn from use in July 1995.