VH-BUU Junkers Ju
52/3m
(c/n 7256)
Three
Ju 52s were acquired by Gibbes Sepik Airlines in the 1955-57
period. All came from
Sweden. This one
was ex SE-BUE (and OY-LAM and D-AVIU before that).
Photographs
of them are rare. Robert Blaikie took the above photo at Minj,
PNG in 1956. Below is a shot
from The Collection
p3690-0068 and
shows -BUU after it had groundlooped on landing at
Baiyer River,
New Guinea on 17 October 1959 when it swung into
a drain. Gibbes Sepik Air-
ways had been
taken over by Mandated
Airlines by then but -BUU was operating a
Gibbes Sepik
service flown by a
MAL pilot. Although the
damage was considered to be
easily repairable,
MAL was retiring the
Gibbes Sepik Junkers and
decided to
write it off.
