VH-TAC DC-4
'John
Gould'
c/n 7466
Built as a C-54A-5-DO, it was delivered to the USAAF in 1944 under a
1941 contract
having serial number
41-107447. It was civilianized in 1946 for the (then)
Argentinean
national carrier
Flota Aerea Mercante Argentina (FAMA) as LV-ABP.. TAA purchased it
in 1954.
It was the first of TAA's DC-4s to be relegated to freighter duties (in
1959) and,
like VH-TAB,
did a stint under lease to Ansett-ANA (in 1969). The
image immediately
below, by Greg
Banfield, was taken at Mascot in December 1963 showing -TAC as a
'Cargo
Master'. Originally named 'John Gould' it became 'Nat
Buchanan' when the
Viscount VH-TVP took the former name. The shot at the foot of the
page (also by Greg)
was taken at Mascot in April 1970 and
shows -TAC having now been modified to include
a DC-6 style
radar nose. It was sold to Air Siam in August 1970
becoming HS-VGX.
Eagle Aircraft in the
U.K. acquired it in 1974 when it was
registered G-BCDT before
going to Royal Air Lao
in 1975 as
XW-PKH. It was destroyed in
1975 at Phnom Penh
Airport during a Communist attack.