VH-FDS DHA-3
Drover 3
(c/n 5007)
First registered in 1951 as VH-DRC, this
Drover underwent conversions to a Mark 1F; a Mark
2 and finally a Mark 3 with the
installation of the Lycoming flat-four engines. It was
re-registered
into the
Royal Flying Doctor series as VH-FDS in September 1963. The
photograph above was
taken by Roger McDonald (via Geoff Goodall) at Bankstown in
1968. It was probably being
"traded
in" by the RFDS at that time, since Roger saw it again at Perth
(immediately below) a year
later, by which time it was bereft of its Flying Doctor livery and
flying for Murchison Air Services
on their
'Murbird' services to Rottnest island. . In 1972 it was sold to John
Collins' Air-Rep Service
Pty Ltd. VH-FDS crashed at remote Trefoil Island, off Cape Grim
on Tasmania's north-west coast
on 30
July 1973. The late Mike Madden took the shot of its
remains (bottom) in October of the
same
year. (Photo via the Geoff Goodall collection). Mike
was probably Australia's greatest
aviation
photographer and must clearly have made the trip specially to take a
series of photographs
of the
wreck since Trefoil Island is private property, owned by the Trefoil
Island Aboriginal Co-op-
erative,
and approval is required prior to visiting. In 1989
the wreck was donated to the Queens-
land Air
Museum and restoration back to full RFDS standard began at Coloundra in
2007. For
a
complete history of this Drover and more historic photographs, go to
the QAM's site at
http://www.qam.com.au/aircraft/drover/VH-FDS.htm
