VH-MAE  Douglas DC-3CS1C3G                       (c/n  11917)

                                 

                                        VH-MAE was another ex-RAF Dakota (FL557).  It was civilianized in 1948 as VH-BFV
                                        and re-registered VH-MAE in 1955.  This shot was taken in 1956 at Essendon, where
                                        Mandated's DC-3s were sent for major overhaul work.  (See the photograph below, taken
                                        some days earlier).   Following an accident at Madang in 1953, the aircraft was repaired and
                                        went on to serve with Ansett-MAL for many years  It was finally written off at Wapenamunda,
                                        New Guinea in 1972, when the undercarriage collapsed on landing and the aircraft swung off
                                        the strip.  It had been operating a weekly Madang-Wapenamunda charter.  Fortunately, there
                                        were no casualties.