This shot, from the John Hopton collection, was taken at Perth Airport in 1961 . At the time its
operated was limited to survey contracts and as a standby aircraft for the Royal Flying Doctor
Service contract at Derby. It was advertised for sale in November 1959 with 7 passenger seats
and a total airframe time of 5,860 hours. The day prior to the DCA order grounding all Ansons
(30 June 1962), -MMH was ferried south to Perth, making a farewell circuit of Perth city on its
arrival. This Anson was then donated by MMA to Fairbridge Farm School at Pinjarra, south of
Perth. DCA graciously approved a ferry flight and -MMH made its final flight on 11 August 1962
from Perth to the wartime Pinjarra airfield near the school. The press photo immediately below
(# 2, from the Geoff Goodall collection) shows its arrival that day being welcomed by the staff and
boys of the school. It was then towed to the school grounds where it was displayed in a flying
attitude with its tailwheel on a stand. The last two images are testimony to the fact that old aero-
planes and children's schools are a lethal combination. Alistair Coutts' photo (# 3) of the sad
remains of -MMH was taken at Fairbridge Farm School in November 1964, only two years after
it was flown in and presented to the school as a memorial. Finally, in shot # 4 taken by Geoff in
a visit in May 1968 shows all that was left. Geoff reports that, when asked "what happened?"
a school elder condescendingly explained, without a hint of irony, that parts of the aircraft had been
"a valuable training aid for the students during a boat construction project". I would like to believe
that today, a better sense of the importance of history might be present at such a seat of learning,
but I'm really not too sure it would................
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