VH-BAU Avro 652A Anson 1
Another set of Geoff Goodall images gleaned from the
distant past. These show (above) an Airlines
(WA) Ltd Anson at the old
Maylands Airport, Perth, in December 1946, and (immediately below) a
shot of it as
W2149 awaiting conversion, circa October of that year.. The Anson had
been purchased
from the
Commonwealth Disposals Commission and ferried to Maylands for
conversion. When the
airline's D.H. 90
Dragonfly VH-ADG was badly damaged at Kalgoorlie in December of 1946,
the
civilianization of
VH-BAU was accelerated and it was quickly pressed into service. After
six years of
airline flying, it
was sold to Yaringa Pastoral Company at Yaringa South Station (between
Geraldton
and Carnarvon) and
flown by Yaringa's owner Allan Kopke between his WA properties.
VH-BAU
was finally
retired at Maylands in December 1955 due to high maintenance costs in
keeping it flying.
It is seen in the
last photograph (bottom of page) in 1958 derelict and dumped outside
the Doggett
Aviation hangar
alongside another grounded Anson, VH-BMQ.