VH-AOI  Douglas DC-3CS1C3G     (c/n  19694)

                              

                                     This aircraft was an ex C-47A-80-DL having USAAF serial number 43-15228.  It was
                                     civilianized in 1946 and went directly to Butler. My shot above was taken at Essendon,
                                     circa 1955 although normally Butler did not service Melbourne on a regularly scheduled
                                     basis, much less Flinders Island, where the color image below (via the Ben Dannecker
                                     collection) was taken by Art Withers in 1960.  Initially it was basically an intra-NSW
                                     carrier.  Butler became part of the Ansett-ANA empire in 1958, although for a while
                                     still flew under its own name.    However, by 1959 Ansett-ANA had changed its name
                                     to Airlines of NSW, as seen in photo # 3 below from the Steve Gibson collection (via
                                     Geoff Goodall) showing at Mascot in 1960.   In 1961 it was sent to PNG and flew under
                                     Ansett-MAL titling as seen in the photo no. 4 below from the CAHS collection, taken
                                     at Rabaul Airport.      Another photo of it in Ansett-MAL Golden Orchid service by Dick
                                     Hourigan (foot of the page) was taken at Essendon in May 1963. VH-AOI was sold to
                                     Merpati Nasuntura in Indonesia in 1969 becoming PK-NDH.