VH-INJ (2)
Aviation Traders ATL-98
Carvair
(c/n 19/42927)
Designed by Aviation Traders Ltd as a replacement for the aging Bristol
Freighters, the
ATL-98 Carvair (a contraction of Car-Via-Air) was designed
and built around the Douglas
DC-4 airframe. This was
considerably less expensive than designing a new aircraft from
scratch.
Technical assistance
was received from Douglas Aircraft and the conversion consisted mainly
of a completely new front
end. The front hold had a sideways-hinged nose door through
which
vehicles could be
loaded. 21 conversions from DC-4s were built in all.
The original DC-4
on which this Carvair
was based was a Swedish Airlines machine (SE-BBD) although Ansett-
ANA bought it from
Japan Air Lines where it had been serving as JA-6008 for a
decade. It
was purchased by Ansett in
August of 1963 becoming VH-INJ (2) and then served for a couple
of
years as a freighter with Airlines of N.S.W. before going off to
Southend, UK to be
converted.
Ansett sold the Carvair in 1973 and it
wound up derelict
at Phomn-Penh, Cambodia in 1975
registered in the
US as N33AC. The photograph immediately below, taken at
Brisbane, shows
it as operated by Ansett-ANA,
whilst
the top shot at Tullamarine, Melbourne, illustrates its final
(Australian) livery.
These excellent images are both by Peter Gates. Photo No 3
is by Richard
Hourigan and shows it in
the shop at Essendon in August 1963 being reworked and transformed
from JA-6008 into
VH-INJ. It re-emerged sometime later in full Airlines of
NSW livery as seen
in Greg Banfield's shot at
the foot of the page taken at Mascot in December 1963.
