G-AUJB de Havilland D.H.61 Giant Moth
(c/n
334)
Identifiable in the two Qantas shots (above
and immediately below) by its name, "Apollo",
this
Giant Moth had been
incorrectly marked "G-AUJD" when
it first arrived on 17 April of 1929.
It flew
for a week before
anyone noticed and it was
repainted as "G-AUJB". The rare shot
(# 3
below), taken from 'The Queenslander'
journal dated April
1929 (and via the John Oxley
Library
collection) clearly shows the
aircraft incorrectly marked. It was probably wearing the
incorrect rego
in the shot above seen loading mail at Archerfield for inaugural run to
Cloncurry.
Incidentally, the real VH-UJD was
a Junkers W.35b. VH-UJB was sold
in New Guinea in
1935 and was
stricken from the
register after it
crashed near Mubo in that
Territory on 9 May
1938. At the foot of the page is newspaper
shot extracted by Graeme Parsons from the Brisbane
Courier of 7 March
1931 showing the, by
then, VH-UJB outside the new Qantas hangar
at Archerfield, at
that time
the largest steel hangar in
Queensland.