VH-FMM Millicer
Air
Tourer
(c/n 1)
Here's the forerunner
of the Victa Airtourer being demonstrated to the Latrobe Valley Aero
Club
at Morwell in 1960.
Photo from the Geoff Goodall collection via John
Willis. This was the all-
wood prototype of
Millicer's design, later to be produced, of course, as the all-metal
Airtourer.
The original plans were for
East West Airlines at Tamworth NSW to undertake production but
VH-FMM was damaged during a
forced landing near Tamworth Airport in August 1960 and
that same month Victa Consolidated Industries
announced that they would set up for production
in their factory at
Milperra, Sydney. Victa's other claim to fame hitherto was
that it was Aust-
ralia's most popular brand of lawn motor
mower. -FMM survives, and is displayed at the Royal
Australian Navy Fleet
Air Arm Museum at Nowra naval station NSW. It's an
unusual type for
a
military museum, but is a leftover from a previous reincarnation of the
Navy museum to cover a
wide range of civil aircraft.