VH-FNI Fokker
F-27
Friendship
(c/n 10181)
Here's -FNI at my old "home" airport of Launceston,
Tasmania, in the early 1960s. (I was living in
L.A., and with
Western Air Lines by that time). This image is courtesy of the
Civil Aviation Historical
Society collection
(via Phil Vabre). Delivered to Ansett-ANA in July 1961 it
passed to subsidiary
Airlines of
South Australia in 1968, being named 'City
of Whyalla' at that time. VH-FNI was the
aircraft which
was hijacked in 1972 on a flight from Adelaide to Darwin by a deranged
Czech migrant
who was subsequently shot
by police in the ensuing scuffle. In 1977 this Friendship
was transferred to
Ansett Airlines
of Australia and in 1981, and still going strong, was sold to
Commercial Airways (Pty)
Ltd (Comair) of
Johannesburg becoming ZS-KVI. It flew with Comair until
1997 and, after a complete
overhaul in the
US went to AeroCondor Peru SA as OB-1693. It was last seen
stored in the open at
Lima in 2005.