ZS-ASP Lockheed 18-08 Lodestar
(c/n 2030)
In the early 1950s the
mode of the times was to paint the rego on the rudder in (usually)
minuscule
letters. Fortunately this Lodestar didn't go quite that far, and
it is still legible. Note that ZS-ATA in
the left
background has not yet succumbed to that treatment. In those days
the name of the airline
was
written in English on one side (usually, although not always the
starboard
side) and in Afrikaans
on the
other (as
"Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens"). This is no longer done. In
fact, in line with the current
policy
within the country of completely obliterating all vestiges of its
colonial (both British and Dutch)
past, by
renaming
everything, I am surprised
that the airline hasn't been renamed Air Bantustan or
something
equally ridiculous. Anyway, back to ZS-ASP. It was
sold in the US in the late 1950s as
N667 and
then went to
Peru becoming OB-F557. Its final fate is unknown.