Essendon Airport - 1954


In this photo Australian National Airlines' Douglas DC-3 VH-ANZ Largana (c/n 9559) is seen about to enter Runway 17/35. The photo below shows it also at Melbourne/Essendon a year later, in 1955.

As most of the numerous post-war DC-3s in Australia were, this aircraft was originally built for the USAAF as a C-47A-30-DL and allocated the serial 42-23697. In 1944-45 it was assigned to ANA under contract to the Allied Directorate of Air Transport (ADAT) and flown on courier runs with the callsign VHCFF (although it was never on the civil Register as such).

Post-war ANA purchased the aircraft and registered it as VH-ANZ in December 1945. After service with ANA, Ansett-ANA and its subsidiaries Airlines of South Australia, Airlines of NSW and MacRobertson Miller Airlines its history becomes very clouded. That it was sold in Cambodia is generally accepted, but what it became, and the dates that happened, are uncertain. It is, however, believed to have been destroyed in the early 1970s.

 


Photos: Top - Victorian Education Department/CAHS collection; Bottom - Eddie Coates

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