VH-TAV      'Todd'                                                                            c/n  13622
                                        Essendon, 1955
                                        Built as a C-47A-25-DK, this Dakota was assigned USAAF serial 42-93683, and was
                                        civilianized in Manila, before going to Qantas Empire Airways as VH-AII in 1945.  It was
                                        re-registered VH-EBI in 1949.   In 1950 it was acquired by TAA  and re-registered into
                                        their sequence.   It passed to the TAA's New Guinea ('Sunbird') operation in the mid 1960s
                                        and was re-registered VH-SBJ.  It was sold (donated?) to CASI (Continental Air Services)
                                        in Laos in 1969 and became XW-PEE.   From there it appears to have received a US regis-
                                        tration N13622 (same as its c/n) and sold in December of 1970.  Its history from then on is
                                        obscure.      Ben Dannecker's shot (below) is somewhat better than mine and was taken at
                                        Cootamundra on 18 November 1959 whilst the aircraft was on charter to the Cootamundra
                                        Turf Club.  

                                 

                                 

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