G-AUEJ de Havilland D.H.50A
(c/n 130)

Larkin Aircraft Supply Company Ltd
of Melbourne liked to name all their aircraft. This one was
"Wattle Bird" and
the tilting is seen in script on the fin in this image from the Hood
Collection,
via the State Library
of New South Wales collection. It appears, in this shot, to be
powered by
its original
230 hp Siddeley Puma but at some point in time this was exchanged for a
Bristol Jupiter.
The two
images below are from the Daryl Mackenzie
collection and show (upper) the aircraft at
Charlotte Waters,
NT (which outpost
was established in 1871 just across the SA/NT border by
two
surveyors, McMinn and Knuckley during the construction of the telegraph
line) and (lower, at
the foot of the page) now
re-registered as VH-UEJ and with its name redrawn in capital letters.
At the foot of the page is an
extract from the (Adelaide) Register News-Pictorial for 14 February
1930 showing -UEJ and
describing the D.H.50 as having been reconditioned and modernized and
as being one of
the aircraft used in Larkin's service between Camooweal and Daly
Waters.
As VH-UEJ the
aircraft was destroyed by fire during a forced landing at Methul, NSW
on 9 June
1932.


