VH-UJK de Havilland D.H.60G Gipsy Moth
(c/n 984)

This Sam Hood photograph (via the State
Library of NSW collection) is the only image I have
been able to glean of this Gipsy
Moth in one piece . Since the caption states that
it depicts
"Frank
Annabel arriving at
Hargrave Park for an Air Pageant" that would date the photo to
1930 or
thereabouts.. The rough image below was earlier, and pre-VH-U
days, taken from
a newspaper photo from the Sydney
Morning Herald dated 26 Octoiber 1929. The caption
read: : "CAUGHT IN AIR POCKET,
AEROPLANE CRASHES AT MASCOT.
Max Mitchell, the pilot, was injured yesterday, when this Gipsy Moth
side-
slipped out oí an air
pocket and crashed twenty feet to the ground. The
wings were
telescoped and the propeller broken off".
The original owner, on 21
March 1929 was R. Annabel and it was then sold to I. D. Master
of Wellington, NSW in September
1931. .
It was then brokered through de Havillands at
Mascot in 1936 who refurbished it and resold it
to the Whyalla Aero Club. This outfit
changed
its name to Spencer Gulf Aero Club in 1938.
VH-UJK was evidently not
impressed during the war and was finally
withdrawn from
use in August 1945 and broken
up for
spares.
