VH-UZG.html      


                                     VH-UZG   de Havilland D.H.84 Dragon                                (c/n  6027)

                             

                                  Photos of -UZG have been hard to come by.   Bruce Robinson has unearthed these three fuzzy ones
                                  shown above and below, from the album of his grandfather, George A. Robinson, founder of New
                                  England Airways.  Shot No 2 shows it being reassembled after shipment from the U.K. while photo
                                  No 3 shows the remains after its disastrous crash.  This Dragon was ex  G-ACFG and left the U.K
                                  in February 1937 having been sold to North Queensland Airways Pty Ltd of Cairns.
                                  It appears never to have received its Australian CofA, but clearly did carry the VH- rego for a
                                  short while as evidenced in Bruce's photos.     It crashed some 3 km north of Cairns on 7 May
                                  1937.
                                  At the foot of the page is a photo discovered by Graeme Parsons  which is an extract of a much
                                  larger image, of the Dragon flying over the Queen Mary on 24 March 1936.        The full picture
                                  can been seen on the website at
                                                           http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/spw049802
           
                                   It had an interesting history, and the following excerpt is from the February 25, 1937
                                   issue of Flight:

                                             The fact that G-ACFG has just been sold to an Australian company, we believe
                                             may not be very interesting news. This, however, of all Dragons, has had a more
                                             than usually eventful career - though Dragons, as the first large machines to pay
                                             their unsubsidized way, are always eventful.  This particular D.H.84 was built in
                                             1933, finished fifth in the King's Cup race of that year (pilot Hubert Broad) and
                                             was bought by an Italian count, with whom, apparently, she travelled to Vienna,
                                             Belgrade, Bucharest and Constantinople.       In 1934 she was purchased by Mr.
                                             George Nicholson to operate his Northern Airways' service between Newcastle
                                             and the Isle of Man.   When Northern and Scottish Airways was formed by him
                                             in November of that year, -CFG came over from Renfrew to start the services,
                                             and was used for the inaugural Skye and Hebridean flight. Her log-book shows
                                             some 130,000 miles. Let us hope that she flies another 130,000 miles in Australia.

                                       Unfortunately this was not to be.