VH-ASA (1) de Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth
(c/n
DHA976/T309)
The first aircraft to carry the registration
VH-ASA was this Tiger Moth, formerly AA17-541.
It was one of the first military
aircraft to be civilianized after WW II, being thus converted in
September
1945. It forced landed at Wyndham, WA on 14 January
1947. It was owned
at the
time by the Australian Salvation Army, based at Darwin and flown by
"The Flying Padre"
Captain Victor Pederson. He was located three days later by a
RAAF Dakota search aircraft,
but
a grass signal fire lit by Pederson turned back and destroyed the Tiger
Moth. The above
photo is
from the Peter Kelly collection.