VH-SML  Lockheed L.414-08 Hudson IV             (c/n  6049)

                              

                                  This aircraft is almost certainly VH-SML.  The main identifying feature is the lack of nose glazing.
                                  This image, from the CAHS collection was obtained from John Laming, a former employee of
                                  Herald Flying Services, owner of the Hudson at the time.   Venue was Camden, NSW, circa
                                  1949, the year of its first registration.  This Hudson, along with VH-SMM had been acquired
                                  by the Sydney Morning Herald to deliver newspapers to outback NSW stations in the early
                                  1950s.   On 14 September 1954 the Hudson departed Mascot, Sydney for Taree, Kempsey,
                                  Armidale, Glenn Innes and Tamworth loaded with newspapers and simply disappeared.  The
                                  search for it was abandoned after a fortnight.  Fifteen months later (December 1955) Capt. W.
                                  Jenkins piloting a Heron of Butler Air Transport on a regular passenger flight sighted the wreck-
                                  age in the foothills of the Barrington ranges some six miles north of Chichester Dam (15 miles
                                  north-north-west of Dungog, NSW).  No official reason seems ever to have been put forward
                                  as to the cause of the crash.