VH-SJL Auster J/1B Aiglet
(c/n 2692)
\
This Aiglet came
in from Hong Kong in July 1968. Originally built in 1947 for a
customer in
Malaya, it
was first registered VR-RBP. This was changed in 1963 when
Malaysia re-regis-
tered all
aircraft and it became 9M-ALF. Somewhere along the way it was
sold in Hong Kong.
Mike Vincent's photo
(above, via the Geoff Goodall collection) was taken at Collector*, NSW
in January
1977. Livery was dark red and white. In the shot at
the foot of the page, by Geoff
himself,
it is seen on a strip at Mount Schank, near Mount Gambier, SA in June
1983.
VH-SJL is still
currently registered, to an owner in South
Australia.
* Collector is a tiny township on the road from Goulburn to
Canberra. Little more than a pub and a
service
station. For some reason I remember stopping there on a
road trip from Brisbane to Mel-
bourne in the 1940s
in our trusty Austin 10. A new Federal Highway has now by-passed
the town,
although it has, I remember, some historic links to the lawless past of
the area, and is probably worth
another
visit!. (Not by me, [2015] since I have now been on
kidney dialysis for the past two years
and my travels back to
Oz are probably now over!).