VH-FLF   Britten Norman BN-2A Islander                            (c/n  141)

                                  

                                        Just creeping in to the cut-off date for inclusion in this selection of photos is this Islander, registered
                                        on 26 January 1970.  The above color slide was taken by Chris O'Neill at Bankstown in June 1973. 
                                     .  The Islander was another operated by GRD and Geometrics.  Australia aerial survey specialist Doug
                                        Morrison shares the following recollections of -FLF:- 
                                                    “I spent some memorable ferries in that aircraft in Africa. It went to Africa twice firstly for
                                                     GRD (1971-73 or so) and was caught up in a coup in Somalia and impounded with
                                                     its crew for weeks and secondly for Geometrics (1974-76).   It had an endurance of over
                                                     11 hours with the additional tanks and could fly close to 2,000 kilometers of survey per
                                                     day and was a great money spinner - it generated up to $10,000 per day for months on
                                                     end (in 1976 money).    In the first trip to Africa FLF was piloted mostly by NZ pilots Fred
                                                     and Helen Schrafft with magnetometer operators that included Les Snape (ex Adastra).
                                                     It got shot up on the border between Rhodesia and Zambia circa 1975 (pilot Dave Bland
                                                     ex Adastra) with a bullet lodged in seat below the pilot and shot off a flap bolt etc which
                                                     required a replacement flap (the flap last seen by me at the back of a hangar in Kitwe
                                                     Zambia mid 1976.     I was project manager of the job in Zambia in 1976 and we sold
                                                     -FLF sometime later in the year to a USA customer* - ferry pilot came in fueled it up
                                                     and went without test flight of whatever.     - FLF was later lost in an open sea crash
                                                     landing in the Caribbean somewhere and is now the home to some pretty tropical fish!” 
                                        * Note:  -FLF became N28377