G-AUDF Bristol Tourer
Coupe
(c/n 6108)
This is
thought to be G-AUDF although the State Library of WA, from whose
archives this image
comes, does not
overtly identify it. The rationale is
this: WA Airways, of Perth, acquired six
of these Bristol Tourers in
November 1921 with which to commence service in December of that
year along the
Indian Ocean coast of the vast state, and G-AUDF was the first, so
probably had a
plethora of publicity and 'action'
shots taken of it. It was ex G-EAXK. In the shot above it
is being
refueled at Carnarvon, WA in
1922. The Tourer Coupe appears more definitively in the background
of the image of G-AUDJ below. The elongated exhaust stack
running along the fuselage side, how-
ever, makes the rego to appear as G-AUBF. This aircraft
was destroyed by a fire at Onslow, WA
on 27 January
1925. At the foot
of the page is a picture (unearthed by Graeme Parsons) which
appeared in The
Western Mail for 5 February 1925 showing the gutted remains at
Onslow.