Beech C-45H Expeditor    N9574Z                  (c/n  AF-45)

                                          

                                                 This civilianized Expeditor, seen here at Hawthorne Municipal Airport (a suburb of Los Angeles)
                                                  in the early 1960s, is carrying a "Z" registration.  That designation was normally allotted to aircraft
                                                 which were often based overseas and, indeed, this example was part of the somewhat mysterious
                                                 Air America fleet, based in South East Asia.  It had probably just been overhauled and readied for
                                                 them when I took this photograph, just prior to going out to Viet Nam.  I wonder how they got there?
                                                 Disassembled and shipped in crates?    This was actually a late model military machine, having the
                                                 USAF serial 51-11488.  As such perhaps it should not be part of this selection.  Anyway, N9574Z
                                                 saw much more "action" as a civilly registered aircraft, than it did in its service days, as a rersult of
                                                 which it crashed on landing at Bao Trai, South Vietnam on 27 September 1965, due, it has been
                                                 suggested, to enemy ground fire. The two pilots and one passenger were killed.