<>                                  VH-UFE  de Havilland D.H. 50A  (c/n WAA 2)

                            

                               VH-UFE was the second of three D.H. 50As built under license (sorry about the US spelling
                               - force of habit) by Western Australian Airways.  (G-AUFD and VH-UFN were the other two).
                               The D.H. 50 was first built in 1922 as a replacement for aging D.H. 9Cs which were in service
                               with a large number of the world's air transport companies.  It carried four passengers in an en-
                               closed cabin between the wings.  Power was supplied initially by an Armstrong Siddeley Puma
                               engine developing 230 hp, although many had these swapped out in the late 1920s for ADC
                               Nimbus engines.    Australian licensees were:  QANTAS (4)  WAA (3) and Larkin Aircraft
                               Supply Co (LASCO) (1).   Fuselages were locally built and married to wings shipped out from
                               D.H.s in England.    VH-UFE was sold by WAA to Adelaide Airways in 1936, then absorbed
                               by Australian National Airways but almost immediately sold to a private owner.  It crashed at
                               Condobolin NSW in 1937.   The shot below is from the Geoff Goodall collection and shows
                               the aircraft as G-AUFE, circa 1927 coming in over the picket fence that remained alongside
                               the entry road to Maylands Aerodrome right up until the 1950s.