VH-ABY Percival P.16D Q-Six
(c/n Q35)
The above
photograph is courtesy of the Airways Museum and Civil Aviation
Historical
Society.
VH-ABY was
operated by (the
then) Department of
Civil Aviation to develop and enhance
the
radio range work
needed at that time in
Australia. For a full
description of this work and a complete
history of this aircraft,
go
to:
http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/Percival%20Q6%20VH-ABY.htm
The shot immediately
below by Bob Fripp was taken at Geelong's Belmont Common Airfield, circa
1947 soon after
its purchase from DCA by wealthy farmer Wallace Stillard of Cobram
Vic. I suspect
that image No 3,
from the archives of the Civil Aviation Historical Society of South
Australia, was taken
somewhat earlier, probably
around 1940. After being imported by DCA
in June 1939 to test the new
Lorenz radio beam
systems, it led an
unhappy life as a Departmental
transport throughout the war, and
was leased to Ansett
Airways during
1943 to maintain their
Melbourne-Hamilton service. By 1946 it
was only being flown 10
hours each year. On 26 August 1947
VH-ABY crashed
on a flight from
Canberra to Geelong,
killing the owner and W. J.
Meehan of Geelong Airways. The poor,
but interest-
ing shot at the foot of
the page, from the Allan
Betteridge collection, depicts the aircraft at
Adelaide/Para-
field in its
wartime camouflage. It carries a national identity fin
flash (white and blue)
plus its civil regis-
tration in light
grey.
