VH-UYG Cessna
C-34 Airmaster
(c/n 339)
Recognizable by the
absence of wing supporting struts, (the wing was fully cantilevered,
internally
braced) the Cessna C-34 was introduced
in 1935. VH-UYG
was imported in July of 1937. The
image above, from the Graeme Parsons
collection, shows it at Mascot in 1937 while it was owned
and operated by Airflight, Ltd.
Immediately below is a photograph taken by Mr. Eyre in 1938
(from the Geoff Goodall collection) showing the
Airmaster in 1938 . My own two shots (3 & 4)
illustrate -UYG at Benalla, Victoria in
the early 1950s. In those days it was bereft of the helmeted
cowling.
Looked rather strange with the smooth one. In
1940 the big
Cessna was impressed
into RAAF
service as A40-1. After WW II it lived
most of its life in
the
Woollongong, NSW
area,
until
1963 when it was
re-registered VH-KWM.
It
reverted to its original historic
regis-
tration in 1993. It was purchased by Steve Padgett in 2010, owner
of Aeromil Pacific, a nation-
al Cessna dealer, who has restored the
helmeted cowling. . It is based at
Maroochydore, Qld
airport
and only flown on special occasions.
The two color shots at the foot of the page are
via
Rowan Hughes and were taken at a Watt's Bridge fly-in on
10 August 2010 by Robert Frola.