VH-UHZ Avro 594 Avian Mk.
IIIA
(c/n R3/CN/144)
The above image is from the Civil Aviation
Historical Society archives, whilst that below is courtesy
of the John
Oxley
Library, State Library of Queensland* showing the Avian in somewhat
mysterious
tail
stripes. The
aircraft had
been
imported as G-AUHZ in
September of 1928 for Aircrafts Pty Ltd.
This outfit flew its first
revenue
passenger services
in 1929 and was a forerunner of the original
Queens-
land
Airlines.
VH-UHZ was
actually written off in
a crash a fortnight after it was
registered. However,
the bits
and pieces were sold
to Messrs. N.
D. Hagerty and A.H. Williams in care of QANTAS in
Longreach
for
a rebuild. A new C of A was
issued in 1933. In May 1939
it passed to a M.M.Castle
of
Bundaberg, Qld, who did not retain it long, selling in September of
that year to an owner in Sydney.
At the foot of
the page is a photo from the Frank Walters collection (via Geoff
Goodall) showing it in
the hangar
at Mascot at that time. I assume it was too ancient to be
impressed into RAAF
service at
the
outbreak
of war, since it never had a military serial. It was
finally
written off on 3 February 1941
when it caught fire
in the air and
forced landed at Byrock, NSW.
* For any viewer interested in
historical images of Queensland in addition to aviation, visit the
State Library site
at: http://www.PictureAustralia.org/slq.html
