VH-UEQ  ANEC I                                                 ( no c/n allotted)

                                 

                                     The ANEC I was designed by W.S. Shackleton in the U.K. under the rules of the Lympne light air-
                                     craft trials conducted in 1923.        Engine capacity had to be less than 750 cc, and the ANEC was. 
                                     fitted with a 696 cc Blackburn Tomtit engine, developing some 22 hp.  The ANEC I, along with the
                                     slightly enlarged ANEC II, were among the first ultralight aircraft ever designed.  G-EBHR was pur-
                                     chased in August 1924 by Perth brewery owner A.G. Simpson who operated as Air Transport Ltd
                                     and it was registered G-AUEQ upon arrival in Australia.           The rare shot above, from the Frank
                                     Colquhoun collection shows it at the old Maylands Airport in 1929 soon after its rego had been
                                     changed to VH-UEQ.     Simpson flew it out of that locale until about 1932 when it was acquired by
                                     Clarrie Fitzgerald, a flying enthusiast from Goomalling, WA.  This individual also built a Luton Minor.
                                     Anyway, his plan was to fit -UEQ with floats and use it as a hydroplane on a nearby lake.   Just how
                                     far he got with that project is not recorded, but -UEQ's Tomtit engine was later used in a Flying Flea
                                     when it was test flown at West Subiaco aerodrome in Perth later in 1936.