VH-MLR
Piper PA-25-235 Pawnee B
(c/n 25-3749)
VH-MLR was registered in April 1966. Along with sister ship VH-MLS, it
was operated
by
Border Aviation Agriculture, at Albury, where David Carter photographed
it in 1979.
Over the
next decade or more the aircraft was used as a cropduster across three
or four
states:
NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. The last
two are known for the
accidents
that befell it . On February 2, 1988 it overran a farm
strip and was damaged at
Sprent, Tasmania. Then on August 19, 1989
it failed to get airborne from an ag strip
near
Peterborough, SA. The metal tube and fabric airframe of the
Pawnee lent itself to
repair and in
November 2016 –MLR was still current . It was operated as a
glider tug
for the
Darling Downs Aero Club at Jondaryan, Queensland.