VH-CAI   Swearingen SA26AT Merlin IIB                          (c/n  T26-103)

                                  

                                        VH-CAI was the first of four Merlin IIBs (the Department also had two Merlin IIIs) purchased by
                                        DCA in the late 60s, early 70s.  This aircraft was first registered in August of 1968.   John Wheatley's
                                        shot above was taken at Mascot, circa 1971.   In 1972 it was transferred to the Papua/New Guinea
                                        Region.  It was later loaned to PNGs Civil Aviation Authority as P2-CAI.  It returned to the mainland
                                        in 1979 (still as VH-CAI) and was sold in the US as N136SP in the late 1980s.      The photo below,
                                        from the CAHS collection, shows it at Essendon in April 1988 after it had been withdrawn from DCA
                                        service.