VH-ECA  Lockheed L-188C Electra                     (c/n  2002)

                                 

                                      In 1959 Qantas purchased a small fleet of Lockheed Electras, primarily to service the Australia-
                                      New Zealand route (although later they were also used on the Johannesburg route).  The above
                                      shot is from the Jennifer Gradidge collection and was taken as the aircraft staged through London
                                      Heathrow on its delivery flight in 1959.  Of the four Qantas Electras, two were sold off in the USA
                                      (this one becoming N359AC) and two went to New Zealand.     After an extensive career in and
                                      around the Caribbean area, c/n 2002 was eventually acquired by Atlantic Air Transport Ltd in 1994,
                                      as seen in the image by Peter Gates below.  It suffered fairly extensive damage due to decompression
                                      after a cargo door failed after taking off from Berlin in 1996 and by 1998 was deemed too far gone
                                      and was reduced to produce at Coventry Airport, UK.