VH-UOW
Junkers G.31go
(c/n 3010)
This superb
nostalgic shot of pre-war New Guinea comes from the Civil Aviation
Historic
Society collection (undoubtedly a Len
Dobbins photograph ). This old bird was purchased by
New Guinea
Airways for operation as a freighter in 1931. It was powered by
three Pratt &
Whitney Hornet A2 engines. It
labored on with Guinea Airways until it was impressed into
RAAF service in 1942 as
A44-1. At war's end it was, surprisingly, still in one
piece, but fell
into disuse. Surprisingly, because
so many of the civilian aircraft resident in New Guinea after
1942 were strafed and shot up on their
airfields by marauding Japanese fighters. The remains
of -UOW were until
recently, still to be found at Alexishafen, New Guinea.