VH-ULY  de Havilland D.H.60M Moth                         (c/n   1366)

                               

                                        This rare shot, along with one of VH-UJL taken at the same venue, is courtesy of the Burren
                                        Junction Public School photographic collection.  Current thought at Burren Junction is that the
                                        pilot at the time may have been one of the 'Hardy brothers'.    This name does not ring a bell
                                        with me and, in the event, the Moth was registered to Queensland Probate Insurance Co Ltd
                                        of Brisbane.  In fact, that company were the only owners, the aircraft being first registered on
                                        5 September 1929 and was written off in a crash at Sydney on 15 March 1931 .  Could it be
                                        that the pilot, whoever he was, became thirsty and dropped in to the Coronation hotel for a
                                        schooner?   The shot immediately below is from the John Hopton collection, venue and date
                                        unknown.   Following that are newspaper clippings gleaned by Graeme Parsons.  The upper
                                       one is from the Melbourne Argus of 27 January 1931 and states that -ULY crashed 11 miles
                                        from Wagga, NSW and that the pilot and passenger escaped serious injury.      It must barely
                                        have been repaired before crashing again on 15 March 1931 as indicated above, and this time
                                        much more seriously resulting in its being written off.       This second crash image is shown at
                                        the bottom of the page and was extracted from the Sydney Morning Herald of the following
                                        day and the story, in part stated:
                                            'Howard Jolley of the Queensland Probate Insurance Co Ltd was killed and Mr. Reginald
                                             Robinson was seriously injured when the aeroplane in which they were returning from Tam-
                                             worth to Mascot hit a flagpole at Steele Point near Nielsen Park (Vaucluse) yesterday fore-
                                             noon and crashed on the edge of the cliffs.     It was raining at the time and visibility was as
                                             bad as it could be.  The aeroplane appeared to descend and the right wing struck the mast.
                                             Mr. Robinson was piloting and Mr.Jolley was seated in front................'