VH-PGL  DHC-2 Beaver 1                                    (c/n  1430)

                                 

                                     There were two Beavers registered to P.G. Law, the Director of the Australian National Antarctic
                                     Research Expeditions, both, naturally, VH-PGL.  The first was c/n 964 which was transferred to
                                     the RAAF as A95-202 and was written off in a blizzard at Mawson Base on 9 December 1960.
                                     Seen above is Geoff Goodall's image of the replacement Beaver at Adelaide Airport in June of
                                     1961, being prepared for its shipment to Antarctica  This aircraft had been delivered new to de
                                     Havilland Australia in July or 1960 as VH-IDR.   It was then transferred to the RAAF as A95-205
                                     but was loaded on the ship for Antarctica as VH-PGL in an overall orange paint scheme with the
                                     ANARE emblem on the fuselage.  Some time during the next year (possibly as soon as it was off
                                     loaded) the aircraft was repainted with its RAAF serial A95-205.  With the international community
                                     all vying for the natural, and untapped, resources of this vast southern continent, there was probably
                                     some political reason for these Beavers to swap their identity from civil to military machines.  After
                                     its tour of duty in Antarctica, the Beaver was sold to Air West Airlines in Vancouver as CF-AWA.
                                     It is still active as C-FAWA..  It is seen below at Vancouver in 1978 as CF-AWA.