VH-CAO (2)  Hawker Siddeley HS-125 1B            (c/n  25015)

                              

                                 This early 125 was delivered to DCA at the end of 1964 just after its designer, de Havilland, became
                                 a division of Hawker Siddeley.   The 1B variant had upgraded Bristol Siddeley Viper 522 engines. 
                                 It suffered an inadvertent accident on 24 January 1967 when it landed at Avalon with the wheels up
                                 during pilot training exercises.   The aircraft skidded down runway on its belly, and a fire broke out
                                 from leaking fuel from a ruptured fuel tank.  Fortunately this was quickly extinguished.  The aircraft
                                 was later taken by road to Bankstown for rebuilding at a reported estimated cost of $250K.  To say
                                 that this episode was an embarrassment for the agency in charge of flight safety would be a gross under-
                                 statement!     The nice shot above by Ron Adam shows the rebuilt machine looking pristine again at
                                 Canberra, circa 1969.   Immediately below is a photograph by Roger McDonald of it on the truck at
                                 Bankstown as it arrived to be fixed.  Both these images are from the Geoff Goodall collection.  Image
                                 # 3, which is Geoff's own, depicts -CAO earlier at Essendon in February 1965.   By 1975 DCA had
                                 become the Dept of Transport and Greg Banfield's shot # 4 shows it at Bankstown in November 1975
                                 with the DOT badge visible.      In August 1978 Arnold Glass of Capitol Motors bought the HS-125
                                 and repainted removing all vestiges of its DCZ/DOT heritage (per Greg's photo # 5 at the foot of the page).
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