VH-UFF
De Havilland DH 89 Dragon
Rapide (c/n 6270)
Imported in 1935 for Holyman's Airways (as
'Memma'),
this Rapide passed to Australian
National
Airways and then to Airlines of Australia Ltd in 1938, retaining the
same name. Seen above is an
image from the Geoff Goodall collection taken Archerfield in 1939. In July 1940 this Rapide was
impressed by the RAAF as A33-3, then later released back the airlines
as VH-UFF with Guinea
Airways and
later Airlines(WA) Ltd before being sold to aircraft dealers Brown
& Dureau Ltd of
Melbourne in October 1948 for aerial photographic survey duties. My
shot below was taken at
Essendon
Airport in 1954.
It
was finally exported to New Caledonia in 1956,
becoming F-OAVG
for Transpac.
The humid jungle of that island took a terribly toll on the old lady
and it was only
operated for a
year, before being retired on 2 February 1957 at Noumea-Magenta and
providing
parts
for another Transpac D.H.89, F-OATC. At the foot of the page are
a couple of pictures
from Geoff's album
showing it at Noumea in 1957 (upper) and the remains of it in 1967
(lower).
.
