VH-AYU Percival
P.28B Proctor
I
(c/n K303)
This rare shot of VH-AYU over the Hume Weir
(near Albury, NSW), circa 1947, comes from the
files of
Ross Gorman of Myrtleford, Victoria. The aircraft was built for
the RAF as Proctor I P6269
by F. Hills
& Son. It was civilianized in 1946 as G-AHMG.
Geoff Goodall has
done an historical study of every Proctor registered in Australia, and
provides the
following fascinating
details on this bird:
VH-AYU
was owned by a British chap named Denys N. Dalton, ex RAF, who had
spent 3
years in
Australia during the war. He decided to emigrate here and departed
England on 15
August
1946 in Proctor G-AHMG named
"Dominion Lass" flying to Australia with two lady
passengers. He planned to start a charter company at Essendon
with a partner Fred Odgers
who flew his Proctor G-AHFX out here in company with Dalton. That
latter aircraft became
VH-AYV. Both machines were entered
onto the Australian register in October of 1946.
The
following year Dalton set up his one man company as Air Taxi Pty Ltd at
Albury. In the
shot above, the legend "Air Taxi"
appears below the name "Dominion
Lass". In Sept 1948
Dalton
sold -AYU to Mrs Hazel Roberts of "Ennis Downs"
Station,
Richmond Qld. The aircraft
was later sold to Mitchell Aerial Services at Cairns in Jan
1956 but later failed a CofA renewal and
was struck-off
the register on 1 May 1959. Academic really, since all wood
bonded aircraft were
soon to be pulled from the register anyway, as described in several
other Proctor entries.
Meanwhile Denys Dalton went on to become a successful
businessman and made around the
world record flights in his Beech Travelair VH-TKD and
later in his Beech Duke
VH-TKE.
The photo immediately
below is from Geoff's collection and shows Proctor when owned by
Mitchell Aerial
Services taking off from visiting the annual Oak Park Station picnic
horse races
in north Queensland
in 1956.
Finally, from Kym Burton comes the shot below
of the Proctor at Parafield in 1946 en route to
Essendon..
The photo was taken by her grandfather who was a mechanic at the field
during and
after WW II.
.