VH-AYW de
Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth (c/n
281)
Here's
a line up of Tigers on the Royal Queensland Aero Club flight line at
Archerfield in 1951.
VH-AYW
was the former RAAF A17-262. It was sold to the Rockhampton
Aero Club in
1953 and then passed to the
Queensland Aerial Ambulance Transport Service (see shot below
taken at Rockhampton in the mid-1950s).
The Maltese Cross on the rudder is Queensland’s
symbol. It was painted on all
ambulances. VH-AYW apparently had a charmed life. Geoffrey
Luck of Mittagong advises me that
he practically pranged it one day by running into high tension
wires whilst
practicing forced landings. He was, in fact, lucky to make it
back to Archerfield!
Despite probably similar incidents
during its busy lifetime, VH-AYW is still on the current register,
and
still resident in Queensland.