VH-UCC
Junkers A-50 Junior
(c/n 3517)
This Junkers was imported in March of
1936 and registered to P.T. Parker of Warrnambool,
Victoria. Its CofA lapsed in
August 1949 and, when renewed in June of 1951, the machine
was
sold to Fred Betts who kept it at Geelong's Belmont Common aerodrome.
The photo
above and immediately below are from the Aaron Betts collection. (Aaron
is Fred's grandson).
I am not sure of the significance of the
name 'Rena', clearly seen in the image below. When
Fred
sold it, the aircraft was brokered through Schutt Aircraft Sales at
Moorabbin and was
then a common
sight at Bankstown in the mid 1950s. (I saw it there in
1954). It later went to
a
farm north of Sydney at Lower Portland, NSW where Brian Baker saw it
(foot of the page)
in the early
1960s. Evidently
the land had been overstrewn with power cables taking away the
ability of the farmer to operate
VH-UCC. In the event the aircraft was later restored and be-
came a flying
advertisement for Cathay Pacific Airlines, registered VH-MRR. Aaron
advises
that the
machine has now, in fact, been returned to Germany.