VH-CXZ
Aerostructures SA29
Sundowner
(c/n C1/0486)
This conversion has not left the original
airframe totally FUBAR'd. i.e. one can tell that, at one
stage, it
was a standard Chipmunk. VH-RNJ
of the Royal Newcastle Aero Club,
to be exact.
(And WG412
and G-AOUC before that). A prototype of an agricultural version
of the Chip-
munk was built in 1965 as a joint venture between Sasin Aircraft
Service of Goulburn, NSW and
Aerostructures. The type was known as the SA29
Spraymaster. The original engine was
swapped out for a 210 hp Continental, although a Mk 2 version was
offered with a conventional
145 hp Gipsy
Major 10. Noticeable changes to a stock Chipmunk were
the dorsal fin fillet and
wing
endplates. The aircraft above was the Sundowner (non
agricultural) variant featuring a 180
hp
Lycoming O-360 engine. The above image of VH-CXZ was
taken
by Geoff Goodall at
Bankstown, NSW, in June of 1972 That below, in which the
tip tanks are missing, or had yet
to be
fitted, is by Greg Banfield, and was also at Bankstown, somewhat
earlier on 29 July 1967
This aircraft was sold in the
USA as N8DW (with a c/n of F354 which was the fuselage number
of
the original C1/0486) and is
still currently registered to an owner in
Virginia.
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