VH-ULB de Havilland D.H.60G Gipsy Moth
(c/n 996)
Oddly, photographs of this Gipsy Moth are rare, and I am
indebted to the CAHS for this repro-
duction
from the Terry Martin collection. VH-ULB was
imported in 1929 by L.C.L. Murray
in
July 1929 from India where it had been
VT-AAR. (Murray later had the Dessouter VH-UPS).
The
Moth was then sold almost immediately to the
Australian Aero Club (Vic Section). In 1929
it
participated
in the East-West Centenary Air Race
from Sydney to
Perth and is seen in a line-up
of aeroplanes
in this race in the photo at the foot of the
page of VH-UJU beareing the name 'Swan'.
The
cropped image
immediarely below, courtesy of Kevin OReilly was taken by Peter
Bennett (son
of Jack Bennett
who was chief
of Ansett`s flying school before
the fire) at Essendon in
1938..
Many
of
these Moths had multiple prangs. VH-ULB was no
exception.Photograph # 3 below, from the
Charles Ohlson collection (via CAHS) shows
the result of a crash at Parafield on 22 March 1930.
On
12 August 1931, a
certain A. Martin of the Aero Club was practicing side slips in the
vicinity of
Essendon
Aerodrome and managed to
slip it right into a fence on the eastern boundary of the field.
The photo at the bottom of the
page came from an edition of The Argus for the following
day. The
aircraft
was repaired yet again,
finally winding up in
the Royal Aero Club of Victoria's fleet and
was
impressed into
service
with the RAAF in 1940 becoming A7-98. It did not survive the war.
