VH-UUQ Cierva C.30a Autogiro
(c/n
780)
The newspaper shot above
(diligently
dug out by Graeme Parsons) came from the Perth Western Mail for
25
July
1935. I will leave it in this extended
format in order to portray the rest of the ensemble. The caption
stated: "Equipment of Commonwealth Prospecting Ltd .
Consisting of heavy truck, autogiro and utility truck
photographed at
Maylands aerodrome before the first expedition."
VH-UUQ was ex G-ADCK and appears
to
have been imported in July 1935 exclusively for
Commonwealth Prospecting. This company was a partner-
ship formed by
two characters named Jim Langmead and Cecil Spargo who obtained
financing to purchase
-UUQ for gold
prospecting, on the promise of good leads to locate the famous
Lassiters Lost Reef. The
<>autogiro departed Maylands on 24
July 1935 for Southern Cross, WA and a week later reported highly
successful operations with it, flying 15 hours at an altitude of 150
feet. However when the CofA was up
for
renewal a year later, the engine was u/s and there was no finance for
the work. It was stored in a hangar
at
West Subiaco Aerodrome, Perth, and never flew again. It
was later moved to Maylands Aerodrome,
Perth. In October 1941 the tailwheel assembly of -UUQ was used on
Goldfields Airways' Percival Vega
Gull
VH-UZH at Kalgoorlie. Below is a much more presentable
photograph of the C.30a from the Geoff
Goodall
collection showing it as G-ADCK being test flown after its assembly at
Maylands in July 1935.
