VH-BHA Auster IV
(c/n 881)
The second -BHA was
this ex RAF Auster AOP Mk. IV, serial MT108. It was
civilianized as
G-ANGX and exported to
Australia in November of 1954 as VH-AZJ. It became
VH-DDW
in 1959 and assumed its current identity
the following year. John Wheatley's photo above was taken
somewhere around 1970. Earlier it
had been a participant in the Ansett Air Race in 1964, entered
by G.S.
Ethell
of
Queensland. Greg Banfield took the shot
below during
the Bankstown stopover
on the evening of 29 March
1964. It was
later refurbished and decked out (quite nicely, actually) as
an
AOP. Mk IV. (Heaven forbid
that an ex-military machine these days should
be permitted to fly
around in civilian livery)!
The nice
contemporary
shot
of it (foot of the page) was taken by
Andrei
Bezmylov at the
6th Annual Antique
and Classic
Aircraft Fly-In at Parafield in March of 2007.