VH-GBB  Miles M.65 Gemini 1A                              (c/n  6486)

                            

                                    Built in 1947 as G-AKEN, this aircraft was exported to Australia early in 1954 ostensibly
                                    as VH-BTP, although upon arrival it was re-registered VH-GBB, for its owner's initials. The
                                    slide shot above was taken by Don Ende at Maylands, Perth, circa 1960 (via Geoff Goodall).
                                    Immediately below is a photograph of it as G-AKEN after the undercarriage collapsed at May-                                                           
                                    lands on 14 January 1954 shortly after it arrived in Australia after its delivery flight from the
                                    U.K.  It was repaired at Maylands and flying  by the end of the month as VH-GBB for Perth
                                    owner Galdwyn Brandon-Brown.   In 1971 Goodall found it in 1971 languishing in the rafters
                                    of a large shed on a farm at Shackleton, WA (bottom of page).   When DCA banned wood-
                                    bonded aircraft from flying its last owner had simply parked it in the weather on his nearby farm.
                                    The fuselage was collected by the Airforce Association museum group from Perth, and in January
                                    2008 it became part of a collection of Gemini parts in a container shipped from Perth to a new
                                    owner in England, where it has now been restored to the UK Register as G-AKEN in anticipation
                                    of a future rebuild.