VH-MWN de
Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth
(c/n LES4)
Those Lawrence Engineering built
machines were certainly sturdy creatures. They built 11 of them
from Feb 1959 until June
1962, made up from old parts inventories which they had.
This was the
Tiger that was involved in the accident
which destroyed Zlin Trener VH-PXB.
It occurred at Bank-
stown on 1 April 1963 when the
Tiger Moth, piloted by K. Attneave, taxied into it. The propeller
of the Tiger Moth
struck the Zlin's fuel tank, and the resultant fire destroyed the Zlin
and badly
damaged VH-MWN
before the airport fire service could extinguish the flames.
VH-MWN went
on to lead a long life, and
the above shot was taken by Geoff Goodall at Ararat, Victoria in
early
1965. It was,
Geoff states, usually parked in a dilapidated open-fronted hangar at
Ararat in the late
60s.
Below it looks identical in this earlier shot by Bob Neate taken at
Narromine in 1963 when it
was owned by R. C. Berry,
of "Wilkerboon" via Nymagee, NSW. It is
still on the register and now
lives in South
Australia. Greg Banfield's color shot at the foot of the page was
taken at Berwick in
February 1975.