PP-SLF de
Havilland D.H.114 Heron 1
(c/n 14003)
Transportes Aereos Salvador (TAS) was founded in
1949 in Salvador, Brazil as a charter
and FBO
operator. By 1953 it had acquired an operating certificate to fly
scheduled services
within the
State of Bahia. Equipment at the time comprised four Beech
Bonanzas and two
Herons.
The little airline was absorbed by Nacional in 1956 (Panair do Brasil
were also in
the market to
purchase it, but the deal fell through for some reason). PP-SLF
and its sister
aircraft PP-SLG
were actually the third and fourth production Herons and, as such were
Mark
1s with fixed
undercarriages. PP-SLG was short lived, being delivered in August
of 1952 and
written off in
a crash at Itapebi, Bahia in March of 1953. PP-SLF (seen above
in this image
courtesy the de
Havilland Aircraft Co) saw service with other concerns in Brazil as
PT-AVA
and PP-STS. It
was withdrawn from use and stored at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1970.