red750

I was back at Station Pier again today. I have a couple of hours to spare in the vicinity of the city one Monday of every month, while my wife attends a concert at the Arts Centre. Port Melbourne is one of the places close by where interesting things can be found. Today, the largest ship in the RAN, HMAS Adelaide was berthed there. While it is quite large, it is very boring to look at. Of course, I had my camera with me.

No bites at this one?

GraemeK said: I also grew up in Pascoe Vale,

Hi Graeme, I lived on Gaffney St, at the milk bar two doors from the corner of Derby St. Later it became a computer shop, then a fish and chip shop. The planes shooting ILS approaches to 26 would throttle up over our place. I think the noisiest were the screaming props of the Viscounts and Friendships. My brother and I shared a bungalow behind the shop, louvre windows, no soundproofing. That's where I got the bug.

The DC6B VH-INA in photo No 4 had an interesting history. For the younger members who may not have heard the story, on April 14, 1964, this aircraft took off from Essendon on a flight to Adelaide. Shortly after takeoff, a propeller blade from engine No 3 became dislodged, and the resultant out of balance situation partly tore the engine from its mount and left it dangling. Landing the aircraft in that condition was highly dangerous, so the pilot, Capt. Keith Hants, flew over Port Phillip Bay, where he jettisoned most of the fuel, then performed a series of descents and pull-ups, till the damaged engine broke free. The plane landed safely back at Essendon. A series of photos can be found here.

Here is a shot of the helicopter at the old heliport on the Yarra where I had many flights.

The continuation of the historic Essendon discussion can be found here.

Rather than create further thread drift on Guess This Aircraft thread, I have moved the drift here, if anyone is interested..

When I got my first car over 50 years ago (a Morris Isis), I lived at Pascoe Vale, about 2 miles, or just over 3 km, from the end of Rwy 09. I used to drive over to Essendon and park in the carpark just north of what was the Ansett-ANA finger, now GA parking. I took quite a few photos there (lost a lot of them). I used to save my money so I could afford to ride the helicopter shuttle service to the city and back. Here are a few of the photos I still have.

Ansett had a couple of their DC4's converted to Carvairs. Here is a photo I took of VH-INJ at Essendon in 1967. (Edit: Actually, it was 3, VH-INJ, VH-INK, and VH-INM. Their full histories and more photos can be found here.)

GOLDFINGER

Good one, Kasper.

Not sure about the engine, but yes, it's a Monocoupe 90A. Camel, you were a smidgeon out, like 60 years. 1930 vs 1990 for first flight.

The unusual feature I was looking for is that this 6 place pressurised turboprop was, at least originally, sold as a kit, with buyers assembling it at the companies assembly centre themselves.

I clone them out so you can't cheat. Here's the original.

Interesting that it's a US registered aircraft.

Sorry Birdseye, I was going by the FAA Registry entry for the N number on the photo, N213TZ (see below). So I had the type as Epic LT. What was unusual about it?

Keep guessing.

To add a bit of a twist, what is unusual about this aircraft?

Correct Mick. The company generic ID was M62. The PT-19 had an inline 6cyl engine, PT23 had a radial engine, and PT26 had enclosed cockpit.

Next one:

Sorry, keep guessing...

From the Yahoo 7 web page:

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority says five people were aboard the Eurocopter 120 which went down near Hardy Reef Pontoon at about 4.30pm on Wednesday.

As well as the fatalities it's understood one person was seriously injured while the two others escaped with minor injuries.

It's also understood the helicopter crashed into water 250 metres from the pontoon.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) issued a release on Wednesday evening confirming a crash investigation was being launched.

Correct Rastus. IBob, #535/#48q was answered - G.A.L. 38 fleet shadower. .