VH-APN (2)  de Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth                  (c/n DHA331/T118)

                                                                                       
        
                               This is the second Tiger to bear the rego VH-APN.  It was ex A17-312 and was sold by the
                               Commonwealth Disposals Commission at RAAF Temora on 6 September 1946 to the Asso-
                               ciation of Australia Aero Clubs for 100 pounds as part of the bulk Tiger purchase by the clubs.
                               Nothing more was heard of it then until it was registered VH-APN in November of 1961 to
                               Queensland Airplanters Pty Ltd at Childers, Qld., later Bundaberg.  This company specialized
                               in dusting and seeding originally with Tigers and Dragons, and later with Callairs and more modern
                               aircraft.   -APN was sold to a private owner in November 1964, no doubt as part of the DCA
                               regulation requiring agricultural operators to reduce their Tiger Moth fleets by a third each year
                               for 3 years up to 1966 when the type was banned definitively from further crop dusting duties
                               due to the high pilot casualty rate.    Greg Banfield's photo above was taken at Camden, NSW
                               on 1 October 1978 during one of the Tiger Moth air races. The significance of the word 'Croxley'
                               on the tail is unknown.  Was the owner or sponsor associated with the John Dickinson stationery
                               which carried that brand name?    The image below, from the John Wheatley collection shows it
                               some time later in a most attractive finish.  Airworthy into the 1990s, VH-APN is no longer current..   .