BA3502/1/41: The last plane to fly to Kunmunya Mission, Western Australia, 1951.

Summary

The aircraft in this photo is VH-MMD Lockheed 10A Electra (manufacturer's serial number 1130) of MacRobertson Miller Aviation Co (MMA). It was originally registered VH-ABV in December 1938 then shipped from Burbank, California to Port Adelaide and flown to Perth on 6 January 1939. It entered service in February 1939 on MMA's Perth-Darwin route. It was re-registered VH-MMD on 31 October 1948. On 7 February 1954, it was sold to Phelan Aircraft Materials Co., Burbank, California. The aircraft departed Perth for Sydney, where it was dismantled by Kingsford Smith Aviation Services and on 25 February 1954, it was shipped as deck cargo on the Sonomia from Sydney to Los Angeles. In the USA the aircraft passed through a succession of owners, wearing the registrations N4886V and later N19HL. On 12 December 2002, the registration N19HL was cancelled and the aircraft is now preserved at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola, Florida, painted to represent a US Navy Lockheed R2O-1, serial '1130'. (Supplied by D. Eyre, Jan. 2024)