VH-AQM de Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth
(c/n DHA418/T168)
VH-AQM was first registered in April
1946. Very shortly after it sustained extensive damage at
Essendon
Airport and was acquired by the then embryo TAA as an instructional
airframe for
apprentices The airline repainted it up as "VH-TAA" and it
is seen in that guise, stored in a loft
in
an Essendon hangar in January 1963, in the shot below by Rod Adam
(courtesy of the Geoff
Goodall collection). Soon after this photo as taken, the
complete aircraft was donated to the
Moorabbin Air Museum. Geoff's photo (above), taken at
Moorabbin in February 1968 shows
-AQM in
"warbird" garb wearing its old RAAF serial of A17-377. It
underwent a restoration in
the late 1990s
and is now part of the permanent exhibition.