VH-UAZ GAL
Monospar ST11 (c/n ST11/33)
VH-UAZ was imported in
1934 by the Civil Aviation Branch (CAB) of the Department of Defence
It was sold in 1941 to Keith Farmer of Coode Island, near Melbourne,
Victoria and it is at that locale
that the above
photograph was taken. In May 1942
Farmer sold it to Airlines (WA) Ltd and it was
ferried from
Melbourne to Perth in a single day on 31 May 1942. The
image immediately below
shows it in CAB
service at Mascot before the war, while the third photograph, taken at
Perth Airport
in September 1935
shows the aircraft (also in CAB service) whilst on a visit to that far
west state. This
view in front of the West
Australian Airways hangar at Maylands shows the Monospar's gull wing
design,
as well as a sign
indicating the WAA airfare of 15 quid for the two day Perth to Adelaide
airline service.
Not bad, even for those
austere days. . -UAZ's last
flight was on 6 October 1945 on the route
Perth-
Norseman-Esperance-Perth. It was then retired in the
Airlines (WA) hangar at Maylands. It was
sold
for scrap in 1948, but
saved by Allan Boothey who was an engineer
with the airline. He took
the aircraft
to his home in the Perth
suburb of Redcliffe. He
sold the Pobjoy engines back to Keith
Farmer in Mel-
bourne and planned to use
the airframe as a chicken house,
but soon after it was destroyed
in a grass
fire in his
backyard. The ultimate photo at the foot of the page shows
the remains at Redcliffe
in 1972.
All images are from the
Geoff Goodall collection. The ST11 was a development
of the earlier ST10,
differing from the
latter in that it had a
retractable u/c with those rather ugly
trouser-like covers (although
missing from these in the top
photograph). A complete history of this
aircraft can be found on
the site
of the Airways Museum and
Civil Aviation Historical Society at:
http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/General%20Aircraft%20Monospar%20ST.11%20VH-UAZ.htm