VH-IAK (1)   Piper PA-23-150  Apache              (c/n  23-470)

                                    

                                        This Apache was another contender in the 1964 R.M. Ansett Air Race.  Owned by Doug Fawcett's
                                        Illawarra Flying School at the time, it had been extensively modified by Fawcett including the fitting of
                                        an Aztec type nose.  It is seen here at Parafield at the end of the race in March 1964. in this photo by
                                        Geoff Goodall    Formerly N1415P, it was first imported as VH-TLU.   Greg Banfield's shot (below)
                                        taken at Bankstown in November 1962, shows it as -IAK in short nose configuration.  At the foot of
                                        the page is another Greg photo of it following its long nose conversion also at Bankstown, in Dec 1963,
                                        some three months before the Air Race.  After its stint as VH-IAK it became VH-CSD in November
                                        of 1964.  In 1966 it was acquired by Laurie Crowley for his Solomon Islands based Megapode Air-
                                        ways and became VP-PAB.   Three years later it was repatriated back to Australia, as VH-FAD,
                                        an identity it still retains today.