VH-GBW as G-AJMH Percival P.31 Proctor
IV
(c/n H.633)
No pictures have
been unearthed of this Proctor as VH-GBW, It had a
very short Australian life.
It had
departed from Gatwick in May 1954 flown by British racing driver Mr.
Beverley Snook, and
after
an adventurous trip it was eventually registered in Australia as VH-GBW
on 22 November of
that year to Bruce Woodward of Melbourne.
On 4 April 1955 it struck low terrain
on a flight
from Melbourne to
Canberra while attempting to fly under low cloud.
Woodward, who had only
12 hours on type
at that time, and his two passengers were killed.
The above shot was taken by
Dave Freeman at
Redhill in 1950, whilst the historic shot below from the Ben Dannecker
collection
shows the Proctor on arrival at Moorabbin in
November 1954 with new owner Geoff Woodward
(left), Arthur Schutt
(center) and ferry pilot Beverley Snook (right)