VH-UZS de Havilland D.H.83 Fox Moth
(c/n DHA5)
Here's a super
shot from the Keith Meggs collection (via Geoff Goodall) of an
Australian built Fox
Moth outside de
Havilland's hangar at Mascot in October 1937 just after it was
completed. It was
one of two
Australian-built Fox Moths (the other was VH-AAA) produced when used
machines
were hard to come by.
-UZS made its first flight on 27 October 1937 and departed on delivery
to
Katherine, NT on 11 November flown by colorful Darwin flying doctor Dr.
Clyde Fenton, for whom
the new D.H.83 was provided by the
Government, after he had crashed several of his own Moths on
medical
evacuation flights. Unfortunately VH-UZS was lost on
10 October 1941 when it crashed
into trees on takeoff from Katherine and burst into flames.
Sadly the stretcher patient died and pilot
Roy
Edwards and a nursing sister were badly injured. Below is
an image from the National
Archives
of Australia showing Dr. Fenton
standing alongside the Fox Moth, now painted with a red cross. The
good doctor flew some 3,000 hours
on flights of mercy to and
from unpaved strips flying mainly in
the Northern Territory