Flightpath - May 2018

(Chris Devlin) #1

22 |FLIGHTPATH


Mailbag


Hello Rob,Ihavebeentryingforquitea
few years to identify the Tiger in the at-
tachedphotostakenatLuskintyrein2007.
ItwasRayWindred’spersonalmachine
thathewasgoingtorestoreasasprayer
forairshows.Iwastoldthat,afterhis
passing, it went to a restorer in northern
NSW.TheAHSAhavebeenunabletoas-
sist and Geoff Goodall recalls that it was
oneoftheTrayning,WA,Moths.Canany
Flightpath reader identify and provide
moreaboutthisTigerplease?Iamasub-
scriber to Flightpath and am always im-
pressedwiththerangeofmaterialyouput
into each issue. Best regards as always,
Ian McDonell

Thanks Ian, with the help of Geoff
Goodall and Mel Davis, we can confirm
itwasindeedVH-WFQatthetimeand
the Tiger Moth had previously been
registered VH-AMX (ex A17-136). It was
registered as VH-WFL during restora-

Commonwealth


Liberator Crew Search


Fokker


Correction


Dear Editor,Iamlookingforinforma-
tion on the six RAAF airmen on board
LiberatorAL516of511SquadronRAF
whenitcrashedoffGibraltaron31Octo-
ber1942.Theaircraftwascarryingtour-
expired and injured airmen from Malta to
Britain.Theairmeninvolvedcamefrom
theRAF,RAAFandRCAF,andincluded
theCanadianace‘Screwball’Beurling.
ThesixRAAFmemberswere:F/L
Leonard Stanley Reid, O33446; F/L Alan
ScholesYates,403392;F/OFrederickWil-
liam Clewley, 400579; F/L Kenneth Rob-

InFlightpathVol.2,No.2,2017,Iincor-
rectly stated the only preserved Fok-
ker F27 Friendship preserved in Aus-
tralia, prior to the arrival of the HARS
examplesduefromNewZealand,was
the example at the South Australian
AviationMuseum,VH-CAT.Imissed
theotherF27-400Friendshipatthe
Queensland Air Museum, VH-FNQ.
An ex-Ansett aircraft, delivered to
theairlinein1966andwithaninter-
estinghistory,ithasbeenatthe
Caloundra, QLD, museum since 2008.
James Kightly, Contributing Editor.

ert Mitchell, 404928; F/L Eric Livingston
Mahar, 33231; and F/L Frederick Ray-
mond Johnson, 402518.
AllsixoftheRAAFmemberssur-
vived, but I have seen little written about
them or their subsequent postings after
the incident. If your readers could direct
me to information about these men,
their experiences during the crash, and
theirpostingsovertheremainderofthe
war, it would be greatly appreciated. Re-
gards,Neil Taylor, Edmonton, Alber-
ta, Canada.

Mystery Moth


tion,buteventuallybecameVH-EEI.Its
Agheritageisnowlonggoneasitis
nowusedforjoy flights at Cessnock.
Cheers, RF.

TOPLEFT: The former Ag Tiger Moth VH-WFQ with
exposed rear fuselage tubing, typical of the ‘sprayers’.
[All images via Ian McDonell]

ABOVE:The Tiger Moth today, restored and registered
VH-EEI itisstillhardatwork.

LEFT:In its ‘orginal’ form the Tiger sported colourful
nose-art.
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