PK-ADB  Douglas DC-5                                 (c/n 428)

                                      

                                           Extremely rare shot from the Ben Dannecker collection of a DC-5 of KNILM at Cloncurry, Qld
                                           on the prewar Batavia-Sydney passenger service.   Four DC-5s were in KNILM service at the
                                           outbreak of the war in the Pacific and all four were used for the 1942 evacuation of civilians from
                                           Java to Australia.  PK-ADB became radio call sign VHCXA with the Allied Directorate of Air
                                           Transport, and was operated by No.21 Troop Carrier Squadron.    It was destroyed on 17 Aug
                                           1942 during a Japanese attack on Wards Strip, Port Moresby.   PK-ADA was captured by the
                                           Japanese forces and it is thought that bits and pieces of  PK-ADB were cannibalized to make the
                                           former aircraft airworthy and that it was flown to Japan and used until the end of the war. 
                                           PK-ADC was used by ADAT with call sign VHCXB and was scrapped at Essendon in 1946.
                                           PK-ADD had call sign VHCXC and became VH-ARD after the war and was scrapped at Haifa,
                                           Israel in 1955.