VH-IVI  CA-18 Mustang Mk. 21                        (c/n  1444)

                              

                                 This Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation built Mustang was taken on charge by the Royal Australian
                                 Air Force in June of 1948.  It was struck off charge almost exactly a decade later (May of 1958) and
                                 placed into storage at RAAF Tocumwal.    Dr. Ralph Capponi saved it from a crushing death when he
                                 purchased it in 1964.  The shot at the foot of the page, by Richard J. Maclean, shows it at Moorabbin,
                                 circa 1964.   In those early 1960 days DCA refused to grant civil certification to Mustangs and the like,
                                 but did allow Dr. Capponi a series of single-flight ferry permits, including a long trip from Melbourne to
                                 Perth when he did a tour of duty with the Royal Flying Doctor Service in the West Australian outback.
                                 In November 1967 Capponi sold A68-119 to Skyservice Aviation at Camden NSW, operated by
                                 Canadian Ed Fleming who had extensive Mustang experience.  It was on-sold to colorful American
                                 aircraft dealer Stanley Booker of Fresno California (who had also purchased the six RAAF Mustangs
                                 from the Emu atomic test grounds in SA at that same time in addition to seven RAAF Dakotas and
                                 several other Australian warbirds).       The appropriate US registration N65119 was reserved for
                                 A68-119 but before it was shipped to USA, Booker sold it to Adelaide warbird enthusiast Langdon
                                 Badger. Badger managed to win the battle against the DCA policy of refusing civil registration of
                                 former military combat types, and it became VH-IVI on 20th  June 1969.  After civil inspection at
                                 Camden by Skyservice Aviation, Langdon flew VH-IVI home to Adelaide in triumph on 17 August
                                 1969.  Geoff Goodall's shot above shows it on arrival at Parafield Airport on that day, just as the prop
                                 stopped and seconds before the aircraft was surrounded by a waiting crowd of supporters.      Mike
                                 Madden's lovely shot immediately below was taken at an airshow at Hamilton, Victoria in March 1970
                                 while the Mustang was owned by Langdon Badger.  In 1971 VH-IVI was acquired by Ray Whitbread
                                 and given a smart new paint job (see photo # 3 below, by John Wheatley).  The titling on the fin states
                                 'R.J. Whitbread Motors Pty Ltd'.      Sadly, this Mustang was destroyed on 11 June 1973 at Windsor
                                 near Sydney while being flown by the new owner when the canopy detached during aerobatics and
                                 struck him on the head.     The Mustang plunged into the ground killing Whitbread instantly..  .