VH-BYF  Auster J/5F Aiglet Trainer                     (c/n  170FM)

                                  

                                       This excellent shot was taken by Phil Vabre at Langwell Station, some 25 NM south of Broken
                                       Hill, NSW in October 2009.  This aircraft is something of a hybrid inasmuch as it (officially) carries
                                       the c/n 170FM which is a reversal of a spurious c/n 170FM which was the frame number for
                                       Aiglet Trainer VH-BYE (c/n 2733), this latter machine being struck off  the register in August 1969.
                                       I am assuming, then, that the current -BYF  is made up the fuselage of -BYE and the wings of the
                                       original VH-BYF (c/n 2735) which had been re-registered VH-SAE in 1956.  The above machine
                                       has been under rebuild for about a decade but clearly the end result was worth waiting for!