VH-MVL Victa Airtourer 115
(c/n 66)
Geoff Goodall took the above photograph at
Blyth, South Australia in October of 1964. VH-MVL
was one of two
Airtourers (VH-UQX was the other) made
available by Victa Ltd to commemorate
the 50th anniversary
of Maurice Guillaux's 16-18 July 1914 flight between Melbourne and
Sydney in
his Bleriot XI, carrying Australia's
first official airmail. Geoff's
picture was taken soon after the historic
re-enactment and
-MVF is still carrying Victa Aviation
titling on the cowling. The two Airtourers re-
traced
Guillaux's flight, adhering as closely as possible to the original
timetable and carrying a large
quantity of
commemorative mail. Greg Banfield saw the Airtourer
again much later at Cessnock,
NSW in May
1986. By that time it had lost its distinctive Victa
livery. This machine was
active for
a quarter of a
century until it was written of in a crash at Old Bandana, Qld on 23
August 1990.