VH-AIA  (1)  de Havilland D.H.84 Dragon               (c/n  2086)

                                 

                                       Grainy shot from a Qantas house organ, circa 1946 showing one of their Dragons in service in
                                       New Guinea in the mid 1940s.   98 Dragons were used by the RAAF during WW II, and this
                                       was the penultimate one, being ex A34-97.   Its civil CofA was granted in October 1945 and
                                       it flew with Qantas until withdrawn by them in 1948.   In the late 1950s it was owned by Mitchell
                                       Aerial Services Pty Ltd and is seen below at Cairns in 1959 in this color shot from the Maurice
                                       Austin collection.   During its civilian career it had several periods wherein its registration lapsed
                                       and it was finally retired in 1963.