G-AUPP de Havilland D.H.60 Moth
(c/n 355)
The only images of this
historic Moth I have been able to glean are newspaper prints from
(above)
the Perth Western Mail
of 3
March 1927, and (below) the Sydney Morning Herald of 17 March
1927 both sleuthed down for
me by Graeme Parsons.. In the upper photo the caption
and text
indicate that it was flown
by Major de Havilland* who landed
in error at Kellerberrin,WA think-
ing it
was Merredin and "having to turn around and take off again, thus
demonstrating the versatility
of the
Moth on unprepared ground". The lower shot pictures it over
Sydney, where de Havilland
landed at Mascot. As with several in the
VH-U
series, this aircraft was allotted an
out-of-sequence
rego, carrying, as it did,
the "last two" of its former
UK registration, G-EBPP. Both shots here
actually show it carrying its UK rego, the
Australian oine not being applied until after it arrived in
Sydney. On 30
April 1927 it
was sold to H.T. Hammond and F. Berry t/a Golden Aircraft Co.
of Sydney,
NSW. It returned to Victoria in January
1929 when acquired by L.F. Pratt of
Geelong, the
forerunner of several of aircraft subsequently owned by the Pratt
Brothers. It was
re-registered VH-UPP in
October 1929 and then sold to W. Rhodes and J.W. Paulen of Ballan,
Victoria, and written
off in a crash at Geelong on 27 January 1931.
* Major de Havilland
was Hereward, Captain Geoffrey de Havilland's brother who visited
Australia in the second
quarter of 1926. As a result of this visit, the decision was made
to
establish the company's
first overseas subsidiary. Returning to the UK, Hereward left
again
in January 1927 by sea with G-EBPP
among the cargo on board. He and the Moth disem-
barked at Fremantle and he subsequently flew the Moth across the
continent to Melbourne,
where, in March 1927 the de
Havilland Aircraft Company established DHA in Melbourne to
sell D.H. products in
Australia. In 1930 DHA relocated to Mascot aerodrome in
Sydney.
