VH-UTN de Havilland D.H.60G Gipsy Moth
(c/n 1883)
Photos of -UTN, a rather late-comer as Moths were
concerned, have proven difficult to come by.
This Moth was not imported until 1935, and was
acquired by Australian
aviatrix Nancy de Low
Bird for her embryo air ambulance service operation in outback New
South Wales. It was formerly
G-ABSD, and had been rebuilt
following an accident in
1932. The photo above, from the Civil
Aviation Society of South
Australia archives shows it on approach to Adelaide's Parafield airport
sometime in the late 1930s.
.Immediately below it is seen as part of a line-up of aircraft of the
Aero
Club
of South Australia in 1936. The grainy image at the foot
of the page (from the State Library
of NSW's collection) shows it in
Ms. Bird's service and
carrying the name 'Vincere',
and the slogan
'Woman" under the mainplanes, the
latter to promote the notion that female pilots were just
as good as their male
counterparts!. In 1940 it was
impressed into service with the
RAAF and
became
A7-96. It
did not re-emerge after the war and was presumably scrapped. The
Powerhouse
Museum in
Sydney has a nice model of this aircraft, and more detailed information
regarding Nancy
Bird Walton (as she became) on
their website at:.
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=9145&search=vh+utn&images=&c=&s=