VH-UXH C.J. Levien
History:
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08MAR36 | Completed at Burbank. |
16MAY36 | Export CofA E-1957 issued. |
07JUN36 | Departed San Francisco as deck cargo on the S.S. "Hauraki" for Adelaide. Called en route at Dunedin, N.Z. to enable Union Airways to inspect the Electra. |
31JUL36 | Arrived at Port Adelaide, SA. on delivery to Guinea Airways Ltd who had purchased the Electra for £18,000. The aircraft was assembled in the Adelaide Airways hangar at Parafield under the supervision of Lockheed engineer, Dale E. Hixson. |
04AUG36 | Registration application from Guinea Airways Ltd. |
05AUG36 | Test flown at Parafield by Lockheed test pilot Vernon Dorrell. |
20AUG36 | CofR No 603 and CofA No 560 issued as VH-UXH, the first of its type on the Register. |
20AUG36 | Flown to Essendon, Melbourne in 2 hours 17 minutes for demonstration flights on behalf of Brown and Dureau, Lockheed's Australasian agents. Captained by GAL General Manager, Eric Chater, with GAL Assistant G.M., Frank T. O'Dea as First Officer. Guinea Airways named the aeroplane "C.J. Levien" in honour of the airline's founder. |
05SEP36 | Flew to Mascot, Sydney in the record time of 2 hours 26 minutes. Flown by Eric Chater and Bert Heath. |
05SEP36 | Departed for Brisbane for further demonstration flights. |
18SEP36 | Departed Brisbane for Port Douglas (5 hours). |
19SEP36 | Departed Port Douglas direct to Wau, New Guinea (4 hours). |
28OCT36 | Departed Wau on a charter to Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup. Overnighted at Port Moresby and Brisbane. |
13NOV36 | Returned to Wau. |
12FEB37 | Although popular and reliable, the Electra was found to be unsuitable for New Guinea operations. The Electra departed Wau on this date on its return to Parafield. Arrived Brisbane in 10 hours flying time having refuelled at Townsville. |
FEB37 | The Electra was used to survey a proposed Adelaide to Darwin service. Crewed by Eric Chater and Bert Heath. |
22FEB37 | Commenced a weekly service from Adelaide to Darwin. |
25APR37 | The aircraft was damaged at Tennant Creek when a truck backed into the port propeller. The aircraft was subsequently flown to Darwin with the damaged propeller. The company was later reprimanded by DCA. |
22MAY37 | Departed Darwin for Melbourne on charter to the Sun newspaper carrying photographs of the coronation of King George VI. |
28JUL37 | The Electra, captained by Hugh Hughes, surveyed a new route from Adelaide to Sydney via Mildura, Hay and Cootamundra. The aircraft returned to Parafield the next day. |
16AUG37 | The new service to Sydney commenced. The service lasted only 11 months, finishing on 16JUL38. |
DEC42 | Flown to Port Moresby to participate in the Buna campaign. |
43 | For much of the war the aircraft was used on Guinea Airways courier service between Adelaide and Darwin. Numerous forced landings were made although the aircraft was not damaged. |
05FEB44 | Forced landing near Cowell, SA. |
26AUG46 | Withdrawn from service. Total Time: 16,711 hours. |
28AUG46 | Sold to Union Airways of New Zealand as ZK-ALH. |
18SEP46 | Cancelled from the Australian Register. |
30SEP46 | Arrived Wellington, N.Z. on the "Karitane". After re-assembly at Rongotai, it was ferried to Palmerston North as VH-UXH. |
13JAN47 | New Zealand CofA issued as ZK-ALH. The CofA had been delayed by problems with the fitment of radio equipment. The aircraft was named "Koreke" in NAC service. |
24FEB49 | The aircraft was damaged at Hamilton when the wheels were retracted instead of the flaps. Total Time: 19,607 hours. |
08MAR49 | Test flown at Palmerston North after repairs. |
29JUL49 | Withdrawn from service and placed in outside storage at Palmerston North. |
FEB51 | Sold to Rural Aviation Ltd as a source of spares for their Beaver fleet. |
12MAR51 | Cancelled from the New Zealand Register. |
MAR53 | The aircraft was dismantled at Palmerston North. The fuselage went to Longburn near Palmerston North and was later scrapped. |
80s | Parts of the fuselage were airfreighted to Australia for use as patterns in the restoration of Electra VH-UZO. These parts were subsequently scrapped. |
Issue | Date | Remarks |
---|---|---|
11 | 14DEC24 |
Added
an image of the aircraft as ZK-ALH
from the John Hopton Collection thanks to the CAHS.
|
10 | 27DEC22 | |
9 | 28NOV22 |
Added
a slideshow.
|
8 | 19NOV21 |
Added
an image from the State Library of
NSW.
|
7 | 26JAN17 | |
6 | 04SEP16 |
Added
an image of the aircraft at Katherine
in OCT38 thanks to John Hopton.
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5 | 03APR16 |
Refreshed
page layout with no change to data.
|
4 | 01SEP12 | |
3 | 06MAR06 |
Added
an image of the aircraft as ZK-ALH.
Thanks to Ed Coates.
|
2 | 13OCT01 |
Added
three new images.
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