VH-RDB Piper PA-22-150
Tri-Pacer
(c/n 22-5401)
This was the former
Royal Queensland Aero Club's VH-RQB and was
another one of
those
club aircraft which, when sold, were re-registered with a very minimal
amount of
touch up
paint being required to give it its new identity. It was
originally imported as
VH-GMM
before being sold by the Gertrude McKenzie school to the RQAC.
Around
1965 it had a 160 hp engine fitted, although a restoration in 1994 saw
it revert
not only
to its original 150 hp power plant, but also to shed its tricycle gear
and become,
in
essence, a Pacer, the configuration in which it flies today.. Tony
Arbon saw it as such
in the shot
below, wherein it actually has 'Pacer' titling. However, it was a
true Tri-Pacer
when
Greg Banfield saw it at Bankstown (above) in June 1964.