VH-AIK (1)  de Havilland D.H. 89A Dragon Rapide                    (c/n  6497)

                            

                                  Formerly G-AIWG (and RAF Dominie X7324 before that), this Rapide went out to Cannelloni
                                  Airways in February 1950, having been sold by North Sea Air Transport Ltd.   The above shot
                                  is from Eddie Conellan's archives.   After some eighteen months service it was destroyed by fire
                                  on startup at Turkey Creek, East Kimberley, Western Australia on 29 September 1951.   This
                                  was a fate not uncommon to Rapides, despite start ups normally being attended by a bloke with
                                  a fire extinguisher.