VH-UTF  de Havilland D.H. 83 Fox Moth                           (c/n 4039)

                            

                               VH-UTF was originally built for a German owner, and registered D-3408.  It returned briefly
                               to the U.K. in 1935 and was registered G-ACID.   It was one of three second-hand Fox Moths
                               imported from England in the mid 1930s by MacRobertson Miller Aviation in Perth, W.A. to
                               service the contracts for the Australian Aerial Medical Service (a forerunner of the Royal Flying
                               Doctor Service).   After assembly at Mayland Aerodrome in Perth, it was named 'Dunbar
                               Hooper', as seen in the photo at the foot of the page from the Neil Follett collection.  It was
                               delivered to Wyndham, WA in July 1935 by MMA senior pilot Jimmy Woods with Willis
                               Reeves as passenger in the cabin.  Willis was the newly-hired pilot and was the first to be
                               based at remote Wyndham.  That's the intrepid gentleman closing  the door to the cramped
                               cabin in Neil's photo.  -UTF was not in Wyndham long and in September of 1938 went to
                               George Lewis' Goldfields Airways at Kalgoorlie (still as a Flying Doctor machine).  In 1946
                               it was sold to Ray Edwards of Darwin, NT and the image immediately below (from the Geoff
                               Goodall collection) shows it at Katherine, NT, circa 1946.  Edwards sold it in June 1947 and
                               photo # 3  from the CAHS archives shows it with the new owner's name on the door, viz:
                               'Harry Moss - Darwin".     My own shot above was taken at Archerfield in 1948.  VH-UTF
                               was withdrawn from use in 1951 while registered to Robby's Aircraft Repair Co of Parafield
                               and then  re-registered VH-RAL when it re-emerged after a rebuilt in 1953.      It was later
                               re-registered VH-UAL.