VH-TVR    Vickers 818 Viscount II      'John Murray'                             (c/n  318)

                                 

                                        The above shot was taken by Barry Maclean who happened to be on duty at Essendon on
                                        the day that VH-TVR arrived from Havana.  Previously CU-T622 with Cubana, this aircraft
                                        was originally built in 1958.   TAA acquired it in 1961, and the image below, by Ron Cuskelly
                                        was taken at Coolangatta in December of 1969.    The original VH-TVR was to have been
                                        another series 800 machine but it, along with VH-TVS were not taken up.  VH-TVR was
                                        donated to the Moorabbin Air Museum in 1970.  Unfortunately, due to lack of funding it
                                        is falling into disrepair at that facility.  Phil Vabre took a shot of it (at the foot of this entry) in
                                        2006.   Fred Niven and I also visited the museum during my trip back to Oz in 2006 and, so
                                        far as I could ascertain, no real funding campaign (other than the odd buck or two in the jam
                                        jar) was being pursued in any intense or professional way.   Ergo it is likely that some of these
                                        old birds which are out in the open will simply disintegrate.