VH-CXH Yeoman
YA-1 Cropmaster 250
(c/n 103)
This shot of -CXH, from the Geoff
Goodall collection, was taken at Bankstown in February 1961
during
early test flying by Yeoman Aviation partner Peter Brown, son of
Kingsford Smith Aviation
Service
founder John T. Brown. At this early stage of Cropmaster
production, it retains the CA-6
Wackett
Trainer wooden mainplane and tailplane. VH-CXH went into service
with Hazair Agricul-
tural
Services of Orange NSW, but had only a short life, being destroyed on
21 December 1961
when it
suffered total engine failure over Blackheath in the Blue Mountains,
west of Sydney. The
pilot Tim
O'Neill (who later formed Tonair at Tintinara, SA) was attempting a
forced landing in
mountainous
terrain when the aircraft struck power lines and dived into a rocky
gorge and was
burnt
out.