217220PD: VH-UVK Lockheed DL-1A Vega Special of Horrie Miller at Maylands, 1936-1941

Year

1936-1941.

Warnings and disclaimer

Title supplied by cataloguer. This image has been preserved and made available by the Historical Records Rescue Consortium Project supported by Lotterywest. 217223PD is Jimmy Woods and an unidentified woman in front of Horrie Miller's plane. VH-UVK Lockheed DL-1A Vega Special (construction number 155) Built in 1930, by Detroit-Lockheed Aircraft, Burbank, California, USA. Registered NC372E to Detroit Lockheed Aircraft. Registered as G-ABFE (Model 5 Vega) 30/9/1930 (an alternative source suggests 16/12/1930) to Lieutenant Commander Glen Kidson (who intended to build Lockheed Vegas under licence in the UK). It arrived in the UK by ship 1/1931 & was re-registered G-ABGK 3/1/1931 to Lt. Cmdr Glen Kidson, to incorporate his initials. Its UK Certificate of Airworthiness (V45) was issued 17/1/1931 and the aircraft was test-flown by Kidson at Croydon Aerodrome, London on 31/1/1931. It flew a record-breaking flight Croydon-Le Bourget 21/2/1931 & was used for other record flights, including Croydon-Capetown (via Napoli, Malta, Cairo, Kosti, Malakal, Kimusu, Salisbury & Bulawayo). Glen Kidson & his co-pilot Capt. T.A. Gladstone, were killed in a crash in South Africa 5/5/1931, in DH.80A ZS-ACG. G-ABGK was dismantled & shipped back to the U.K. by Kidson’s co-pilot Owen Cathcart-Jones. Cathcart-Jones continued to fly G-ABGK on behalf of Kidson’s family until its last flight 24/3/1933, when it was hangared at Hanworth Aerodrome. Purchased 8/1934 by Horrie C. Miller, sight unseen, for the Centenary London-Australia Air Race. Test-flown at Hanworth, 15/8/34, by Capt. Jimmy Woods, for its new owner. Overhauled by Dutch airline K.L.M. at Waalhaven, Rotterdam. Entered in the 1934 Centenary Air Race (U.K.-Australia) London-Melbourne (as N° 36) with Jimmy Woods as pilot and Don Bennett as navigator. It departed 20/10/1934 & flew to Marseilles, Roma & Athens. On 21/10/1934 it continued on to Aleppo, Syria, where Jimmy Woods made a heavy landing, causing the undercarriage to collapse. It was withdrawn from the race, dismantled & shipped to Fremantle. It arrived at Perth 1/1935, for rebuild at the MMA workshops. First-flown in Australia 22/8/1935, as G-ABGK. Miller was initially unable to obtain an Australian Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA), as it was an American aircraft. However, it was allowed to fly as G-ABGK, using its U.K. CofA. Capt. Woods flew the aircraft in the Perth Aerial Derby 5/10/1935. It raised more than a few eyebrows there, as it flew faster than the RAAF's Hawker Demon fighter-bomber. Its first MMA service was a charter, Perth-Kalgoorlie-Forrest-Ceduna-Adelaide, 13/10/1935. Horrie Miller requested the registration VH-BGK, to minimise repainting, but this was refused. It was test-flown by Horrie Miller 19/6/1936, in preparation for an Australian CofA. Registered VH-UVK to H.C. Miller 23/6/36 (Certificate of Registration No: 540), with an Australian CofA. The aircraft was registered to & belonged to Horrie Miller, rather than MMA, but was used by MMA on an ad-hoc basis, including communications between MMA bases & occasionally picking up mail from delayed flights. At one stage, R.M. Ansett tried to lease the aircraft, for use Melbourne-Hamilton, but Horrie Miller would not release it. MMA applied to have the Vega included under its airline licence in 8/41. However, it was impressed into service by the RAAF on 11/11/1941, and allocated RAAF serial number A42-1, just as Horrie Miller was planning to register the aircraft to MacRobertson Miller Aviation Co. Struck-Off the civil aircraft register 5/11/1941. Flown to RAAF 1 Aircraft Depot, Laverton, Vic, for use by Northern Area Headquarters. It was camouflaged, and saw service with 24 Squadron and 33 Squadron. It ground-looped at Cairns 17/6/1942, damaging the rear spar, an aileron & wing rips. It was trucked to Townsville & placed in storage. Repairs by Aircrafts Pty. Ltd. began in 10/1942 & took some 12 months. On 24/11/1943 it entered service with 3 Communications Unit, Mascot, Sydney. Declared surplus 3/1944; having flown only some 46 hours with the RAAF, and was issued to the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA). The DCA initially intended to issue the aircraft to Ansett Airways, but, as a result of reports by RAAF pilots of longitudinal instability problems, decided that the aircraft should remain in storage at 3 CU, at Mascot. During 10/1944, the DCA recommended to the RAAF that the aircraft be scrapped. Both Butler Air Transport (28/8/1945) & Jimmy Woods (15/10/1945) were interested in it. However, there was no sale, at least partly because the DCA stated that they would not renew the CofA, due to its stability problems. During 10/45 it was dismantled & trucked to RAAF, Richmond, NSW, where it was scrapped. Horrie Miller wrote to the Department of Defence, Canberra on 30/1/1973, stating that he was unable to find either any acknowledgment of impressment, or payment, for the loss of the aircraft. He was never compensated. (Info courtesy of Fred Niven)

Subjects

• Airplanes -- Western Australia -- Maylands -- Photographs.
• Lockheed aircraft -- Western Australia -- Maylands -- Photographs.
• Lockheed Vega (Airplane) -- Photographs.
• View more on SLWA catalogue

Terms of use

For personal use only. To publish or display, contact the State Library of Western Australia.

Call Number

BA891/440, 442, 445, 446