VH-SMB (2)  Pilatus PC-6/B1-H2 Porter                     (c/n  657)

                                    

                                          Another Porter operated by the Snowy Mountains Authority in the late 1960s.   Registered new
                                          in October 1967 after a ferry flight from Switzerland (ex test rego HB-FDD), it is seen above in this
                                          shot by Mike Madden at the SMA HQ airfield at Cooma-Polo Flat, NSW  in March 1976.   Just
                                          two months after this photo was taken -SMB struck a radio transmitting mast on approach in low
                                          cloud to the Polo Flat airfield in Cooma.   Four persons were killed in the tragedy including SMA’s
                                          chief pilot Jack Howard, who had previously flown with Adastra Aerial Surveys.