Register review

In July 1919 the International Convention of Civil Aviation allocated civil aircraft registration prefixes to each member country. British Commonwealth countries were allocated the letter “G” with the next one or two letters indicating the different countries within the Commonwealth. England used G-E, New Zealand G-NZ, Canada G-CA and Australia G-AU. During 1928 the same convention allocated different prefixes to each country even within the British Commonwealth. Australia was allocated VH and in order to simplify the changeover, all aircraft flying within Australia retained their last three letters and VH- was substituted for G-A.

Victor Hargraves was an early Australian flying pioneer but, contrary to local myth, the VH prefix was not allocated in his honour – it was purely an arbitrary decision. The VH-U block continued to be allocated until it ran out of permutations in 1938 when the VH-A block was started. About half way through the VH-B block the practice of allocating registrations in strict alphabetical order was relaxed and re-allocation of markings and re-registering of aircraft became commonplace causing many problems for modern-day aviation researchers.

Large blocks of markings were originally reserved as military callsigns including VH-H, VH-J, VH-L, VH-N, VH-O, VH-V, VH-X, VH-Y and VH-Z as well as the VH-G block which was initially used on gliders and the VH-Q block was not used as it conflicted with the international “Q” code which was being use in radio communications at the time. During the early 1980s all these blocks were released to be used on civil aircraft and as a result some registrations in the aforementioned blocks have only been used once or not at all whilst some of the earlier markings in the VH-A and VH-B blocks have been used many times over.

With no new types shown in the New Allocations listing this issue, the most interesting aircraft is Peter Lynch’s Grumman Mallard CQA. Towards the end of the war Grumman realised that their future lay in civil aircraft manufacture and built on their experience with the military G-21 Goose and G-44 Widgeon amphibians.

The result was the much larger G-73 Mallard which could carry 10 passengers and two crew in a streamlined hull and powered by two Pratt and Whitney Wasp radial engines. The Mallard was the first Grumman amphibian to be fitted with a fully retractable tricycle undercarriage that folded up into the side of the fuselage.

The prototype Mallard first flew on April 30 1946. The aircraft was hand-built to a very high standard but unfortunately only 59 production examples were built before an aviation recession forced the end of production in 1951. The Mallard was designed for third-level airlines and primarily for harbour-based short intercity flights. Although several smaller airlines used the Mallard, such as Tahiti-Hawaii Airlines and Pacific Western Airlines of Canada, its operational use was too restrictive and as a result most of the Mallards were used for corporate transport. Because the aircraft was built with such a robust construction it has now become a prime target for engine upgrades and many Mallards have now been fitted with turboprop engines.

Peter’s Mallard was built during 1948 and although a US registration, NC14824, was allocated it was not used and the aircraft was delivered direct to Asiatic Petroleum at Batavia in Indonesia where it became PK-AKD. In November 1963 it was sold to the Indonesian Police and was given the serial P-2011. Thirteen years later it was obtained by Dean Franklin of Miami, Florida, and after delivery via Malta, Marseilles and Shannon it became N22DF. Several more US owners followed before the aircraft was re-registered N100BR with Mallard Aircraft of Barrington, Illinois, during July 1993. Don Simmonds of the Abaco Island, Bahamas, acquired the Mallard in August 1998 and re-registered it N611DS three months later. Peter Lynch then bought the aircraft in early 2012 and after an engine and propeller overhaul by Covington Aircraft Engines at Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and avionics work at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, it flew to Mercer, California, to have ferry tanks fitted before eventually arriving in Australia during August last year.

Close on the heels of Howard Jones’ Auster J/1N UXB, shown in last month’s new allocations, comes another elderly Auster, this time a J/1 Autocrat YUT. Built in 1946 the Autocrat was first registered in the UK as G-AGXD and was exported to Australia during April 1955. It became DDY with the Darling Downs Aero Club at Toowoomba on August 19 of that year and was sold to the Royal Queensland Aero Club at Archerfield in January 1959. While at Archerfield it was converted to Lycoming power by replacing the old Cirrus Minor engine with a Lycoming O-235 engine with all Piper Colt fittings from the firewall forward. AB Starky of Aramac, Qld, obtained the Auster in June 1961 and after several more private owners, mostly in Queensland, the aircraft is believed to have been stored in a Mackay garage for 35 years from 1974.

Neville Partridge from Scone, NSW, rescued the aircraft around 2009 with a view to learning the art of recovering fabric aircraft to add to his skills as an aircraft welder but before it was completed he sold it to fellow Scone enthusiast Peter Blake. The restoration is continuing with both men working on the project and the fuselage in now complete and covered and the engine overhauled and fitted. The wings still need to be rebuilt but new wing ribs have already been sources along with instruments and interior fittings so Neville and Peter are confident that an early 2014 post restoration first flight will be possible.

Cessna 310 JOB is the only aircraft returning to the register this month. For some reason the aircraft was de-registered after it was sold by Hinterland Aviation in Cairns (see deletions). The Cessna 310R model was produced between 1975 and 1981 during which time 1,332 units were manufactured. JOB is a 1978 build and was first registered in the UK during March of that year. It came to Australia six months later but was not registered here until September 1983. It has lived in the Cairns area since then with Air Swift, Skytrans, Trailfinders and Hinterland Aviation before being cancelled on August 1. It is now back on the register with Grant Sindelar of Kewarra Beach, Qld.

Twenty-nine aircraft are listed in the Deletions section this issue with almost half of these being exported. As well as the usual two destinations, New Zealand and America, PNG and Canada also get a mention with the most notable Uzbekistan. Two Beech Queen Airs are shown as going to Uzbekistan although this may not be their final destination. The two aircraft, BQL and RUU, have been part of Denis Beahan’s inventory at Charters Towers for a number of years and when last noted were in pretty bad shape. The fuselages were striped and the wings were separated, with the wings of RUU going to the South Australian Air Museum some years ago for one of their projects. Apparently the new owners of the two Queen Airs boxed up all the parts they could find, along with the wings of another unidentified Queen Air and trucked the whole lot out. It remains to be seen where the two aircraft eventually end up.

Two GippsAero Airvans have gone to New Zealand with FOV now flying as ZK-JRR with Glenorchy Air Services and BVJ now marked as ZK-MCZ with Milford Sound Flights. Both companies provide scenic flights from Queenstown to South Island destinations such as Milford Sound, Mount Cook and the Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers as well as charter flights throughout New Zealand. Milford Sound Flights and Glenorchy Air Services both now have two Airvans in their fleet with BVJ/ZK-MCZ replacing Islander ZK-ZQN, which is now with Colville Aviation at Archerfield and registered KQM. There are now 10 Airvans flying in New Zealand with the type replacing Cessna 206 Stationairs and BN Islanders. Also in New Zealand is Piper Super Cub CAK and Eurocopter Squirrel DHQ with the Super Cub now owned by JL Benbow at Nelson who has registered it ZK-JLB and the Squirrel now flying with The Helicopter Line at Queenstown and marked as ZK-IMJ.

MBB Bo105CBS helicopter XBO has joined a growing number of the type operating in PNG and JM Kelly’s Cessna Citation JMK has become P2-JMK in support of their building projects in PNG. Cessna Caravan UTJ has returned to Canada after only nine months on the local register. During that nine months the Caravan’s old registration of C-GZTB has been re-issued to a Bell JetRanger so the Caravan has been issued new markings of C-FBOA and is now with Geotech at Carson, Ontario. Rockwell Thrush Commander LGG, Qantas Boeing 767 ZXD and GippsAero Airvan EHH have gone to the US with the Airvan now registered to the Bank of Utah at Salt Lake City and marked as N211AV. The Qantas 767 was noted at Sydney during July with its titles and tail logo removed and later in the month departed for Shanghai.

Six aircraft have been cancelled due to accident damage including Beech Duchess CLE, which was destroyed by fire whilst on the ground. Cessna 150 taildragger ICE crashed on take off from a golf course near Mittagong, NSW, during February. The pilot had pre-arranged to use a fairway at the golf course as an intermediate landing point on a return flight to Robertson. The landing was without incident, however during the subsequent takeoff run the pilot realised he would not clear trees at the end of the fairway and decided to abort the takeoff. After a wing impacted a tree the aircraft turned over and came to rest inverted. Luckily the pilot was uninjured but the aircraft was substantially damaged. On the other side of the country Cessna 182 OWZ took off from Kununurra, WA, during January when the engine failed at about 100ft. The pilot selected a suitable forced landing area straight ahead but the nose wheel dug into boggy ground and the aircraft flipped over on touchdown. The two occupants received only minor injuries but again the aircraft sustained substantial damage.