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[P51vsFw190]

Of course I noticed.

That is a Short Sunderland.

Specifically a Sunderland III.



James

[LameHawk]

Too easy, I'm afraid.

You again, James!

[P51vsFw190]

Alright then,

Try this:





James

[SAS~Storebror]

Short S.11 Valetta me thinks.
Thought of a Farman F.300 on floats first, but there wasn't any.


Mike

[P51vsFw190]

Correct Mike.

Your turn



James

[SAS~Storebror]

Alright, here you go:




Mike

[Gaston]

British too, I guess...

[SAS~Storebror]

Absolutely

[P51vsFw190]

de Havilland D.H.114 Heron 2

[SAS~Storebror]

<Nitpicking Mode>It's a de Havilland D.H.114 Heron 2D</Nitpicking Mode>
^^Just because you said it's been too easy

Of course you're right James and it's your turn.

A little background story on that particular plane, which nicely documents the early days of the post-war german Luftwaffe.
This particular Heron 2D S/N 14108 was built in 1956, with the civil registration "G-5-15" reserved for it (but never taken up). It was sold to the german Luftwaffe in the beginning of 1957, together with a second Heron (S/N 14124), where it was operated by the Government Flight as CA+001 and was primarily used by the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, and sometimes by the first Inspector General of the Luftwaffe, General Kammhuber. The second Heron was operated as CA+002 and used by the German Minister of Defence, Franz-Josef Strauß.
On Februar 14 1957 the plane returned to Köln-Wahn for emergency landing after cockpit filled with smoke due to electrical shortcut behind the instrument panel at 1500 meters. Pilot was Hptm Peth, passenger Franz-Josef Strauß.

The Luftwaffe sold the aircraft to an unknown user in U.K. in 1963, where it was registered as "G-ASFI".
Odd enough, the plane still carried it's german flag at the vertical tail, apparently it has never been operated in the U.K., just waiting to be sold further on:


It was further sold to Portugal in 1964, registered as "CR-GAT", operated by "Transportes Aéreos da Guiné Portuguesesa (TAGP)" (operating flights within Portuguese Guinea as its national airline):


Then it went to Australia to Connellan Airways ("Connair"), registered as "VH-CLW" on 21 July 1970.
In March 1972 it got converted to a "Turbo Skyliner" by "Riley Turbostream Corporation" in the U.S., re-engined with 4 290hp Lycoming IO-540 flat-six piston engines:


Connellan sold the plane in 1977 to Kendell Airlines who operated it from their Wagga, NSW base to country centres in New South Wales and later on local services in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.




In 1980 they had leased it to Executive Air Services of Essendon:


In May 1981 Kendell leased it again, this time to Air Tungaru in the Republic of Kiribati (Gilbert and Ellis Islands)


It was eventually re-registered "T3-ATA" into the Kiribati register in may 1981.

Next station was Fiji Islands, where the plane was sold to in november 1984, registered as "VQ-FDY" and soon re-registered "DQ-FDY" and flown by Sunflower Airlines:




In 1991 the plane eventually got decommissioned and was sold to the Australian Aviation Museum, Sydney Bankstown Airport, New South Wales.
The plane has since been left mostly untouched, exposed to weather and unfortunately looking all but great:






In 2012 the plane was purchased by the Central Australian Aviation Museum in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, fom Paul and Christine Ewold.  A new hangar was built where it is put on public display:


That's it, your turn James!


Mike

[DHumphrey]

Excellent review of that aircraft Mike !!!   Most informative.

Thanks much for sharing. 

[P51vsFw190]

Try this:





James