VH-ASC (3) de
Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth
(c/n DHA428)
There were three Tigers registered VH-ASC. This is the third one,
and is seen above at Maitland,
NSW in November
1973 by Greg Banfield. It was the former VH-BBF (A17-387 in the RAAF)
and was
re-registered VH-ASC in
1957 when it joined Airspread Australia at Moorabbin. In its
latter years it was adorned
with striking (and ugly) paint jobs. The image immediately below came
from a
small card carried in a box of
Weetbix. Scan courtesy of Phil Vabre. The lurid
Tiger colour
scheme was
applied by owner
Neil Cottee in 1976 when he was promoting his company Pacific
Film as a
serious
competitor to Kodak colour film. At that time
Cottee had a
private airfield at
Bowral where he
based WW1 replicas
and several other aircraft including a vivid red Auster, all
painted in
bright eye-catching colour
schemes. In 1979 VH-ASC went to
Red Baron Scenic
Flights Pty Ltd
at Bankstown.
Ian McDonell took the shot of it at the foot of the page at home
base in 1990
looking, in
my mind, slightly
ridiculous. It flew as the Red Baron until about 2004
when
it
was re-registered VH-MJW to a new
owner. It is
still current in
NSW, and in 2008 under-
went
another rebuilt and is now flying as
A17-387. It has recently (2010) been re-registered
again, this
time as VH-JJW.
