VH-KWN Cessna 172H
Skyhawk
(c/n 17255089)
Registered in November 1966, VH-KWN had been N1694F before
being shipped to
Australia for
sale . David Carter saw it at Moorabbin in December
1969 and it was
from that
airport it made its final flight. Owned by Peninsula Air
Services, it headed
out over
Port Philip Bay on January 5, 1974 with a photographer tasked
with shooting
Peninsula's Republic Seabee VH-MJO, which was being used for
shark patrols. The
plan was to get
a shark in the background. A school of sharks was spotted near Mud
Islands but unable to get both Seabee and sharks in the one picture,
the pilot descended
so the
photographer could snap the sharks
separately. Unfortunately,
low and slow
–KWN
stalled and fell into the bay. The pilot and photographer
were rescued despite
their
injuries (and the school of sharks). .