VH-AQL  de Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth                         (c/n  83126)

                              
                              
                                    In April 1946 the Launceston based Tasmanian Aero Club and its partner in Hobart, the Aero Club
                                    of Southern Tasmania received a number of Tigers in the VH-AQ- series.   This one was originally
                                    with the northern club but moved later to the Hobart (Cambridge airport based) outfit. It was a UK
                                    built example which served the war years under its RAF serial of T5361.     It is seen above in this
                                    photograph by Norm Weeding (via Geoff Goodall) at Cambridge on 11 November 1966, the day
                                    after it was restored to the register after a lengthy rebuild by Max Price of Hobart.     It had been
                                    damaged and struck off the register in December 1960 by previous owner Karl Jaeger of Smithton,
                                    Tasmania.         The shot below  is courtesy of Martin Eade who gleaned it from the Aero Club.
                                    Taken on what is believed to be the morning of its final flight on 8 September 1972, VH-AQL was
                                    to fly from Hobart's Cambridge Airport to Flinders Island in Bass Strait, but went missing without a
                                    trace.   It was last seen around the Eddystone Point area.  Comments have been raised regarding the
                                    amount of smoke seen here just after engine start.   Could this have signalled a potential fuel supply or
                                    engine problem?    The image at the foot of the page is from the Richard Rudd collection, and is circa
                                   1947/48. .