Dates

Event

Constructed as a DH-80A.

29 September 1930

To Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service (Qantas) with new c/r VH-UPA.

Circa 1948

To unknown owner with c/r VH-ABU.

To Charlie Pratt keeping c/r VH-ABU.

15 September 1958

Permanently withdrawn from use.

By October 1965

To Bob Burnett-Read, Adelaide.
Aircraft moved from a backyard chicken shed in Thomastow, Melbourne. to Adelaide.

October 1965

Photographer: Geoff Goodall
Notes: Someone said - There is an old plane in a backyard chicken shed in Thomastown. It was DH.80A Puss Moth VH-ABU, emerging into daylight as the rough covering was dismantled in the Melbourne suburb of Thomastown in November 1965. The aircraft had been acquired by Adelaide vintage enthusiast Bob Burnett-Read, and the West Beach Aviation Group volunteered to move it to Adelaide.

November 1965

Photographer: Geoff Goodall
Notes: Puss Moth VH-ABU near Nhill Vic on the road to Adelaide in November 1965, towed behind my Ford Zephyr. Brenton Holt isin foreground, Arthur Perkins behind checking the ropes on the borrowed glider trailer. The weight of the airframe with engine proved too heavy for the trailer which suffered a structural collapse closer to Adelaide. This Puss Moth had been imported in1930 by Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service (QANTAS) as VH-UPA, for their services in outback Queensland.

1984

To John Petit, Victoria.
Long-term restoration project.

To Hinkler Hall of Aviation, Bundaberg North, Queensland.
View the Location Dossier

Markings Applied: CF-APK
Now on display at the Hinkler House Memorial Museum (in Bundaberg) painted up to represent CF-APK, the Puss Moth (c/n 2049) in which distinguished aviator Bert Hinkler was attempting to break the record for a flight from England to Australia, which stood at 8 days and 10 hours. On the first day of the flight the Puss Moth crashed into Mount Protomagna in Tuscany. The wreckage and Hinklers body were not to be discovered for another 3 months.