VH-UMS de Havilland D.H.60X Moth
(c/n Genairco 8)
Built under licence by Genairco
in November 1929, this Moth was originally a floatplane. The
floats
were removed shortly after it was finished and an 'X-type"
undercarriage fitted. It was sold
to W.J. Stocks of Sydney and crashed at Mascot during a night landing
on 7 April 1931. Whilst
being repaired the Moth was
virtually destroyed in a hangar fire at Mascot the following month.
In an unusual move for those days,
the remains were rebuilt by R. Annabel at Rockdale, NSW in
1933 and a
Gipsy Mk I engine was fitted in lieu of the original Cirrus II.
It had a couple more
owners in NSW and Queensland in the mid 1930s and was then acquired by
the Royal Queensland
Aero Club in November 1935.
VH-UMS was finally written off in a crash at Toowoomba, Qld
on 3 June
1936.. Image above from the Geoff Goodall collection.