VH-UZO Ansertes

Type: L-10A Electra
MSN: 1107
Previous Identities: VH-UZO
VH-CMA
VH-WAO
VH-CHD
VH-ASM
Base: Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre.

History:

Built as L-10B
02JUL37 US Export CofA E-2870 issued.
04JUL37 Completed at Lockheed, Burbank as L-10B with Wright Whirlwind engines.
09AUG37 Arrived at Victoria Dock, Melbourne as deck cargo on the S.S. "Mirrabooka" on delivery to Ansett Airways.
13AUG37 Registration application from Ansett Airways Ltd.
16AUG37 Test flown at Essendon.
VH-UZO
  
26AUG37 Added to the Australian Register as VH-UZO. On the same day, the aeroplane was test flown by Lockheed test pilot, Moyle Stephens who gave dual instruction to Ansett pilots including R.M. Ansett.
30AUG37 First survey flight Melbourne-Mildura-Broken Hill by Captains V. Cerche and H.F. Boston.
MAR42 Participated in the evacuation of Broome, WA and Darwin NT after Japanese air raids.
JUN42 Leased to the USAAF for 3 years. Operated mainly Melbourne-Cairns and Melbourne-Darwin averaging 20 hours daily.
12SEP42 Forced landing near Seymour, VIC due propeller failure.
05OCT42 Taxied into a refuelling unit at Townsville and damaged.
OCT42 Based at Mascot, Sydney on USASOS charter Sydney-Townsville.
12OCT42 Forced landing at Rockhampton, QLD due oil leak.
17OCT42 Forced landing at Rockhampton, QLD due oil problems.
18OCT42 Two forced landings at Rockhampton due oil problems. Engine changed.
21NOV42 Forced landing at Archerfield, QLD due to engine failure.
06FEB43 Forced landing at Old Bar, NSW due oil pressure.
09FEB43 Forced landing at Townsville due oil pressure.
07MAR43 Severely damaged during a wheels up forced landing at Somerset Dam near Esk, QLD. A blade broke off the port propeller in flight and the engine broke loose from its mounts.
30MAR43 Aircraft en route to Essendon by sea.
29JUN43 CofA renewed after test flight at Essendon after major rebuild.
09JUL43 Forced landing at Mascot due rough running engine.
12JUL43 Struck refuelling unit at Townsville damaging propeller.
13AUG43 Forced landing at Rockhampton due rough running engine.
21AUG43 Forced landing at Mascot due rough running engine.
22NOV43 Forced landing at Mascot due rev drop on starboard engine.
17DEC43 Forced landing at Townsville due engine trouble.
20DEC43 Forced landing at Mascot due oil pressure.
27JAN44 Forced landing at Archerfield due oil pressure.
30JAN44 Forced landing at Mascot due fuel pressure.
06MAR44 Forced landing at Casino, NSW due engine failure.
09APR44 Forced landing at Archerfield due instrument failure.
10APR44 Forced landing at Archerfield due engine trouble.
20APR44 Forced landing at Rockhampton due engine trouble.
23APR44 Forced landing at Rockhampton due engine trouble.
27OCT44 Trailing HF aerial struck by lightning while on charter flight Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney. Explosion inside the cabin opened the escape hatch. Forced landing at Holbrook, NSW.
04NOV44 Forced landing Rockhampton, returned after departure due rough running starboard engine. Landed at 1411 local. Cpt. Charles Gatenby, F/O Charles Eather.
05NOV44 Forced landing Coffs Harbour due rough running starboard engine. Given ground run then continued flight to Sydney but subsequently force landed at Kempsey with similar problem. The spark plugs in the starboard engine were cleaned and the engine ground run. Cpt. Charles Gatenby, F/O Charles Eather.
08NOV44 Forced landing at Woy Woy, NSW due noise on cabin roof. Found to be rubber packing from cockpit escape hatch.
14NOV44 Forced landing at Mascot due rough running starboard engine.
28NOV44 Forced landing at Mascot due oil pressure in port engine.
03DEC44 Forced landing at Mangalore, VIC due engine trouble.
14DEC44 Badly damaged in forced landing near Tumut, NSW. Trucked to Essendon for repairs.
07APR45 CofA renewed after test flight at Essendon.
01SEP45 An overnight wind storm at Parafield blew Lodestar VHCAC into VH-UZO damaging a wing of VH-UZO. VHCAC had been parked with brakes on but no chocks. (NAA via G. Goodall)
45 Returned to commercial service with Ansett Airways.
24AUG49 CofA expired and not renewed.
01MAR50 CofA renewed until 03MAR50 to allow test flights at Essendon prior to sale.
01MAR50 VH-UZO was demonstrated to Adastra at Essendon. Adastra were considering purchasing the aircraft from Ansett Airways but a sale did not eventuate.
05JAN51 Sold to South Coast Airways Pty Ltd, Wollongong, NSW as VH-UZO. To be used on services between Sydney and Cowra.
03FEB51 CofA renewed.
15MAR51 Undercarriage collapsed prior takeoff at Wollongong.
11MAY51 Test flown after repairs and CofA renewed.
VH-CMA
  
07AUG53 Sold to Christey's Motors Pty Ltd, Sydney as VH-CMA.
05DEC55 Sold to Carsair Air Service (PNG) Pty Ltd.
VH-WAO
  
15OCT58 Sold to Western Air Navigation Pty Ltd, Charleville QLD as VH-WAO.
JUL60
 Western Air Navigation advertised VH-WAO for sale in Aircraft magazine.
19JUL60 In correspondence with Geoff Goodall and Greg Banfield, Warren Penny stated: "Degotardis chartered my Dragon to have a look at properties up the coast as far as Laurieton. I also did a number of trips for them to Forster with land buyers and talked Degotardis into buying a better and faster aircraft than the Dragon. I looked around and came up with a Lockheed 10 which was based at Charleville. After a lot of messing about, a price was fixed and the deal consummated, subject to an inspection at Sydney. It was decided to form a separate company, C.H. Degotardi Air Services Pty Ltd to operate the Lockheed with me as Aviation Manager. On 19 July 1960, I left Mascot to fly to Brisbane, leaving the next day for Charleville via Fokker Friendship to bring the Lockheed to Sydney for inspection."

Warren Penny's flight to Brisbane was to feature on the front page of the newspapers of the day but for all the wrong reasons. While en route to Brisbane on a latter day Electra in the form of TAA L-188A VH-TLB under the command of Captain J. Benton, one Alex Hildebrandt attempted to hijack the aircraft, demanding that it be flown to Darwin or Singapore or he would detonate a bomb. Warren Penny was one of the 43 passengers on board. The hijacker was overpowered by First Officer T.R. Bennett and Captain D. Lawrence (who was a passenger on the flight). Although two shots were fired, the aircraft landed safely in Brisbane. F/O Bennett was subsequently awarded the George Medal for his actions. (Source: Flypast by Parnell and Boughton)

This was Australia's first hijacking. Warren Penny also rendered assistance to the crew, later receiving a letter of commendation from TAA.
VH-CHD
  
27JUL60 Sold to C.H. Degotardi Air Services Pty Ltd, Sydney as VH-CHD. Based at Bankstown, Sydney and used mainly to fly potential customers to inspect real estate. Named Miss Real Estate.
VH-ASM
  
06DEC62 Sold to Marshall Airways Pty Ltd, Bankstown, NSW as VH-ASM. Used for general charter and aerial ambulance work.
23JUL67 Emergency landing at Bankstown with smoking engine and suspect undercarriage. Believed to be last flight for Marshall Airways.
27OCT67 Struck off Register as withdrawn from use.
Sold to Graham Onus, Kensington, NSW.
APR81 Sold to Laurie Ogle, who in partnership with Barrie Spencer (Airport Manager Bankstown) began a restoration to airworthiness.
Converted to L-10A
20MAY89 Public engine run at Bankstown after restoration as L-10A with P&W Wasp Junior engines.
VH-UZO
  
05SEP91 Registered to Yesterdays Air Force as VH-UZO.
06SEP91 First flight after restoration. Captain Jack Curtis (16 November 1924 - 10 January 2015) with a wealth of taildragger experience (DC-3, Wirraway & P-40) was in the left hand seat. Lockheed 10 owner and current pilot, Fred W. Patterson from California was in the right hand seat.
28OCT98 The aircraft was painted in KNILM markings for use in a re-enactment of the arrival in Sydney of the first regular scheduled international airline operation. The first flight took place on 5th July 1938 and was operated by Lockheed Super Electra PK-AFM. An honoured guest at the ceremony was 96 year-old Captain Gerson van Messel, who was the Captain of the inaugural service.
NOV99 Flown as G-AFTL in connection with the production of a video documentary on the famous Australian aviator and inventor, Sidney Cotton, who operated clandestine photographic flights over Germany prior to WWII using Lockheed 12A G-AFTL. The video is being produced by well-known aviation enthusiast and television presenter, Jeff Watson.
08DEC01 Arrived at Nowra, NSW on loan to Australia's Museum of Flight (AMOF).
25JUL02 Struck off register as withdrawn from use.
Gifted to Australia's Museum of Flight by Laurie Ogle (Vintage Electra Pty Ltd)
01DEC10 OGLE, Laurence George (Laurie) 25.6.1935 - 1.12.2010 Passed away at home in Mosman, NSW. Dearly loved husband of Coralie. Loving father of Lauren and Lisa and grandfather of Hugo and Alexander. (Source: The Daily Telegraph 04DEC10)
21MAY19 Departed Nowra by road for the Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre.
27MAY19 Arrived at the Amberley Aviation Heritage Centre.


NOTES
1
 During restoration, the aeroplane was fitted with Pratt & Whitney engines
in place of the original Wright engines because of the owner's desire to install
feathering propellers. This effectively converted the aeroplane from an L-10B
to an L-10A and the aeroplane is now officially regarded as an L-10A.
2
 To assist in the restoration, part of an L-10 fuselage was imported from N.Z. for use as patterns. Subsequently, the badly corroded remains were scrapped. This fuselage section came from L-10A msn 1060 ZK-ALH (ex VH-UXH).
3
 Special thanks to Geoff Goodall and Laurie Ogle for their assistance with this page.


Message from Ansertes' restorer

 

Issue Date Remarks
31 13DEC24
Added seven images of VH-UZO/VH-ASM from the John Hopton Collection thanks to CAHS. Image 1Image 2 Image 3 Image 4 Image 5 Image 6 Image 7
30 27DEC22
29 28NOV22
Added a slideshow.
28 20SEP22
Added an image of VH-CHD thanks to Eric Allen.
27 02AUG22
Added two images of VH-CHD thanks to Eric Allen. Image 1Image 2
26 01FEB22
Added a mention of Barrie Spencer at APR81.
25 26JAN22
Added an advertisement for the sale of VH-WAO.
24 29JUN21
Added two images thanks to Alan Flett. Image 1Image 2
23 12APR21
Added a reference to Warren Penny's trip to Charleville on 19JUL60. Thanks to Geoff Goodall.
22 10APR21
Added a rare colour image by Warren Penny showing the aircraft as VH-WAO. Thanks to Greg Weir.
21 06NOV19
Added thirteen images thanks to Bob Livingstone. See rows 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the image table.
20 02NOV19
Added a recent image thanks to Peter Dunn.
19 12JUN10
Added four images of the forced landing near Somerset Dam on 07MAR43 thanks to the Civil Aviation Historical Society.
Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Image 4
Added an image of the aircraft with Laurie Ogle in 1996 thanks to Maurice Austin.
Added two images of the aircraft arriving at Amberley on 27MAY19 thanks to Air Force Heritage. Image 1 Image 2
18 26MAY19
The aircraft has been moved from Nowra by road.
17 03MAY19
Added an image of VH-ASM taking-off at Bankstown thanks to Eric Allen.
16 15DEC18
Added two images thanks to Geoff Goodall. Image 1 Image 2
15 04APR16
Refreshed page layout with no change to data.
14 06SEP06
Clarified the sequence of events involving three forced landings on 4/5NOV44. Thanks to Bruce Hoy and Geoff Goodall.
13 06MAR06
Added detail of ground incident on 01SEP45 thanks to Geoff Goodall.
12 06FEB06
Added change of ownership from Laurie Ogle to AMoF.
11 08JUN03
Added an image of VH-CMA in REDeX markings and another in Carsair markings thanks to Ed Coates.
Added a reference to a demonstration flight for Adastra on 01MAR50.





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