VH-CMT (3) Beech 65-A90 King
Air
(c/n LJ-114)
The third VH-CMT was also a Beech Model
65. The King Air was, I suppose, a natural
progression
from the latter model Queen Airs although I also suspect that Beech
elected to
give it the same basic
model number in order to obviate the expense of having to secure a new
ATC
qualification for it. This aircraft was ex N890K and was to have
become VH-FBK but
this
rego was not
taken up, and it was allotted -CMT instead. . Greg Banfield's
shots in this
entry
show:-
(above) in Theiss Brothers titling at Bankstown in
October 1968; (# 3 below)
while with Norfolk
Island Airlines, also at Bankstown in March 1975, and finally at
the bottom
of the page as N890K at Bankstown on 17 September
1966. The color shot of it immediately
below
was taken by John Wheatley at Bankstown in 1970.
Note: revised livery with rego
moved to
tail. It returned to the US in April of 1975
as N114KA. Re-registered shortly
after as N114CW,
c/n LJ-114
force landed at Rangely, Colorado when both engines quit due
to
fuel contamination, and was
written off. The pilot had neglected to drain off the
residual
water in the tanks.....tut, tut, tut.