VH-FAI de
Havilland D.H.82A Tiger Moth (c/n DHA 51)
VH-FAI was formerly
A17-54 with the RAAF and was civilianized in 1949 as VH-BNN.
My shot shows it at Bankstown in
1954 while with the Illawarra Flying School (Fawcett
Aviation). It was
sold by the club to Caleula Agriculture Airways of Orange, NSW and
operated by them for a
couple of years. In 1958 it was purchased by Rural Aviation
of
Perth, whose
proprietor, Hal Watts had only owned it for three moths when it pranged
near Toodyay,
WA on10 Februsry 1959 while cropdusting, The photo below,
from the
Geoff Goodall
collection, shows the result. Remarkably the pilot walked away
unhurt, but
-FAI was
written off.
