VH-UNI  de Havilland D.H.60M Moth                        (c/n    1431)

                                 

                                      The photographs above and below are from the Geoff Goodall collection.  The above, by Bob
                                      Neate, was taken at an air show at Condobolin, NSW in April 1964.   The shot immediately
                                      below was taken on "Wynwood" property via Mount Hope, NSW in  April 1975 by Mike Madden.
                                      The aircraft had been rolled out of its hangar for the photo-op.  It was owned at the time by C.C.
                                      Wright.  This "Metal Moth" (so called because the metal tubing had  replaced the old wooden form-
                                      ers - not because the skin was metal) was first imported in January 1930.   In 1987 it was donated
                                      to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Museum at Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia and is dis-
                                      played at the old Katherine aerodrome.   Like most of the Moths, it had its share of crashes.  At the
                                      foot of the page is an image from the Mayse Young collection showing -UNI following a crash at
                                      Victoria River Downs Station in the Northern Territory on 31 May 1934.     Pilot/owner Dr. Clyde
                                      Fenton of Katherine was making a night flight from Ord River, WA, to Wave Hill with Dr W. G.
                                      Woolnough aboard but was unable to locate the beacon and made a precautionary landing with the
                                      throttle linkage broken.    He took off without Woolnough the next morning and discovered he was
                                     10 miles from Victoria River Downs, but crashed on landing and walked to the station. Woolnough
                                      was collected by a ground party.  The Moth was recovered by de Havillands and remained dormant
                                      at Mascot until rebuilt in 1939 when it was sold to the Macquarie Grove Flying and Glider School Pty
                                      Ltd of Camden, NSW.   It was still flying well, into the 1960s having had a seriies of owners in NSW
                                      and in 1987 was acquired by the Katherine, NT Museum and fully restored to static condition.  It is
                                      currently exhibited there in a special hangar at the old aerodrome site.