VH-ANZ Douglas DC-3CG202A
'Largana'
(c/n 9559)
VH-ANZ was a
C-47A-30-DL USAAF serial
number 42-23697 . If flew with the RAAF
with the call
sign VHCFF and on courier runs with ANA as VH-CFF. After
service with
ANA,
Ansett-ANA and its subsidiaries Airlines of South Australia, Airlines
of NSW
and
MacRobertson Miller Airlines its history becomes very clouded.
That it was sold in
Cambodia is
generally accepted, but what it became, and the dates that happened,
are the
subject to
controversy.
One source alleges
it was registered XU-GAJ in 1972 and destroyed in a
sabotage action at
Phnom Penh in
July of 1975.
Another
report suggests it became XU-IAL and was destroyed by similar
terrorist acitivty in
1973.
Yet another anecdote professes that it
became XW-TFL, owned by Air Union, and crashed at
Suay
Rieng on 20 April 1974.
Any other offers?
Seen below
is a nice shot of it in Ansett-ANA livery taken by Bob Neate at
Essendon in January
1964.
Underneath
this is a photo of - ANZ at Perth in March 1970, a few days after its
delivery flight
from Ansett-ANA
storage at Essendon, and already repainted with MMA titling. It
retained
its
passenger interior and was put into service on the Perth to Kalgoorlie
and Perth-Geraldton-
Carnarvon
services because passenger loads had dropped and the DC-3 allowed
Fokker F-27s
to
be diverted to the more lucrative runs to the Pilbara iron ore mining
areas.
Finally, at the
foot of the page is a Merv Prime image of -ANZ at Perth
on 2nd January 1971.
when sold to Australian Aircraft Sales of Sydney, prior to departing
for Essendon and then on
to Cambodia.