VH-ULX Koolhoven
FK.41
(c/n 4103)
The Koolhoven series of
lightplanes could be considered to be the 1920s equivalent of a
Fairchild F24 or perhaps a latter
day Cessna 172, although it was somewhat under powered
with a 95
hp Cirrus III. The resemblance to the Desoutter (see VH-UPR) is not accidental.
The Desoutter Company was formed in
1929 to produce the FK.41 under licence in the UK.
Some 40 or so were built . This was one
of them, and was the former G-AALI. Desoutter
then went on to
build more modified
FK.41s under the Desoutter name. VH-ULX was import-
ed into
Australia in 1929 for a Mrs.
F.M. Terry of Sydney. It had several other private owners,
(and accidents), and
finally came to grief in a crash at Condobolin, NSW on 3 March 1938.
Several of these
owners seemed to have a propensity for landing it on
beaches. At the foot of
the page
is a clipping from the Brisbane Courier Mail for 31 December 1935
showing a mishap
which occurred at
Southport, Qld.. (Interesting that the repairs were estimated at 50
quid - a
sum which
today might get you a reasonable meal at one of London's better
restaurants!). A
year later, on
Christmas Eve 1936 this aircraft was again damaged when it overturned
landing
on a beach,
this time at Brunswick Heads, NSW. The photo
above is from the A J Jackson
Collection at
Brooklands Museum. while the
image below is from the John Oxley Library, State
Library of
Queensland
collection, taken
outside Qantas' hangar at Archerfield circa 1938.
Following that is a
photo from the Bruce Robinson collection showing the Koolhoven probably
in the
mid-1930s by which time it had received a totally different paint
scheme. .