VH-FNS  Fokker F.27 Friendship 400                          (c/n  10318)

                             

                                 Test flown as PH-FKN, VH-FNS was handed over the Ansett-ANA as Schiphol  on 27 January,
                                 1967 wearing Ansett-MAL livery.    . It arrived at Essendon on February 2 and was immediately
                                 repainted in straight Ansett-ANA livery. –   FNS was a QC* (Quick Change) model fitted with
                                 a roller floor and pallet locks so it be quickly changed from passenger configuration to cargo to
                                 increase utilization.    David Carter photographed it departing Mascot early one morning in 1968.
                                 The Fokker received its “delta” livery after Ansett-ANA became Ansett Airlines of Australia in
                                 1968.  
                                 In July 1977, –FNS finally reached its original intended destination when it was sold to Air Niugini
                                 as P2-ANS.     However, the quick change floor proved more of a burden that a bonus. It came
                                 with a weight penalty that could not be overcome by increase utilization because there was no night
                                 flying  in PNG at the time.        The aircraft was withdrawn from use in March 1984 and soon after
                                 sold to Air UK.   It became G-BLMM in September 1984. A year later it was sold Alkair, a Danish
                                 operator who registered it OY-CCK.       It was leased to  several airlines over the next three years
                                 until it was sold to Ratioflug, which registered in D-ADEP in November 1988.     It continued to be
                                 leased to other operators, eventually being sold to one of them, WDL, in 2004.    It was withdrawn
                                 from use and sat at Cologne for several years until sold in Africa in 2014.  It departed for South Africa
                                 as N138AG.         That registration was cancelled in July 2016 when the aging Fokker was sold in
                                 Kenya as 5Y-FMM   . The all-white aircraft’s cabin  had all but the four emergency exit windows
                                 blanked out.  It is reported that this Fokker crashed in Somalia on 3 June 2017.        It tore off a
                                 wing in a landing, without loss of life, whilst on a UN food charter.

                               *  David Carter explains this aircraft's identity as follows:   It started down the production line as a
                                   400 but was changed to a 600 before it rolled out.  DCA registered it as a 400. The constructor’s
                                   plate showed it was a 400.   The Queensland Air Museum explains it best.  The standard 400
                                   had a large cargo door and a heavy duty floor with tie downs. Fokker then offered an alternative
                                   floor with rollers and pallet locks which it called the 400QC (but apparently did not stamp this
                                  on the constructor’s plate).     After Ansett’s five aircraft were delivered, Fokker changed the
                                  model to 600, the nomenclature with which  TAA’s eight were registered..    These 13 aircraft
                                  were the only  400QC/600s built.     Spotters’ sites call them 600s.