Dannecker collection, it is seen
at Cloncurry, Queensland in June 1947 en route to Singapore
on its one and only charter
flight, after being registered to Aircarriers Pty Ltd of Sydney who
hoped to use it for tramp
freighting. It was carrying a load of 89 Sydney dogs
to Singapore
as guard dogs - for which
good prices were being paid by Singapore businesses during a post-
war crime wave. The local
dog population had been eaten during the Japanese occupation.
After several aborted takeoffs at Kallang aerodrome for the return
flight to Australia on 29 June,
carrying a
load of mixed goods and bicycles for Australia, the Halifax blew a
tire. It finally depart-
ed Singapore for Sydney on 2
July 1947. On arrival at Mascot it never flew again and went
derelict.
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This Halifax was previously Geoffrey Wickner's G-AGXA "Waltzing Matilda" which he flew
home to Australia from England at
the end of the war. The pilot was Edmund 'Ted' Hourigan
>
who then joined London Aero Motor Services (LAMS) and flew LAMS Halifax
freighters
between UK and South Africa as
their only Australian pilot. When LAMS folded he was
stranded in England and was
engaged to fly one of two newly purchased DH.89 Rapides
VH-BKM and BKR to Connellan
Airways. On the final leg to Alice Springs on 6
May
1948 in
-BKM, he crashed on takeoff Daly Waters NT due engine failure and
with a broken
leg was pulled from
the burning wreck by the engineer on board.
They were collected by a
MMA Anson and flown to
hospital in Darwin that evening. The shot of -BDT below is from
the Geoff Goodall
collection and shows the Halifax at its final resting place at Mascot.