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| 09MAY36 | Registered G-AEDT having been built at Hatfield by de Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd. |
| 19JUN36 | British CofA No 5490 issued to Rt. Hon. Sir Philip Albert Gustave David Sassoon, London. Sir Philip Sassoon was Under Secretary of State for Air and also Honorary Air Commodore of 601 (County of London) Squadron. The aircraft carried a snake mascot mounted externally on the nose and listed on the aircraft weight and balance documentation. The aircraft was based at Lympne. (RW) |
| 38 | Shipped to Australia. |
| 02FEB38 | Adastra Airways took delivery of the Dragonfly at Mascot, having purchased it for £2,650/-/- |
| 17MAR38 | Australian CofA issued and added to the Register as VH-AAD to Adastra Airways Ltd., Mascot, Sydney. Test flown at Mascot by L.J. Bruchhausen. Log book shows total time 396 hours 45 minutes. The aircraft subsequently entered service on Adastra's subsidised service between Sydney and Bega. |
| 20JAN39 | Forced landing on Gerringong Beach, NSW while operating the Sydney - Bega service. Pilot N. Rodoni and three passengers unhurt and only minor damage to aircraft. |
| 12AUG40 | Adastra advises DCA that the Dragonfly is being modified for aerial survey. The Dragonfly was withdrawn from the Bega run and replaced by B.A. Eagle VH-UUY when the government subsidy was withdrawn on 28JUL40. |
| 28MAY42 | A camera hatch was installed forward of the pilot's seat. |
| 16JUN42 | The
Dragonfly departed Mascot for Coolangatta to commence a photographic survey
of the north coast of NSW under contract to the Army. Flown by pilot Clarke.
Refer to The Army Survey of 1942. |
| JUN46 | The Dragonfly operated on a survey contract to the Victorian Government. The aircraft escaped impressment during the war because it was performing work for the military. |
| 02FEB48 | Damaged on landing at Bankstown but quickly repaired. |
| JUN48 | Returned to service on the Victorian survey contract replacing Anson VH-BGO which had been destroyed in a hangar fire. |
| 14JUN51 | Change of ownership to Bush Pilots Airways Pty. Ltd., Cairns, Qld. |
| 19JUN51 | Departed Sydney on delivery to Cairns. Flown by Bush Pilots founder Bob Norman. (Source: "Bush Pilot" by Bob Norman 1976) |
| 23JUN51 | Entered service with Bush Pilots Airways on a charter for the Queerah Meatworks taking the manager to Georgetown on a cattle buying trip. (Source: "Bush Pilot" by Bob Norman 1976) |
| 26NOV51 | The Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade's Cairns based Dragon Rapide VH-CFA ditched into the sea on this date. Dragonfly VH-AAD was leased as a replacement until the delivery of another Dragon Rapide (also registered VH-CFA) in November 1952. |
| 26OCT53 | The Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade's Cairns based Dragon Rapide VH-CFA (the second!) ditched into the sea on this date. Dragonfly VH-AAD was again leased as a replacement until the delivery of another Dragon Rapide (VH-BFS) in February 1955. |
| NOV54 | Sold to Kingsford Smith Aviation. (RW) |
| JUN56 | Change of ownership to Griffith Aero Club, Griffith, NSW. (RW) |
| AUG63 | Change of ownership to Charles Masefield and Lord David Trefgarne of London. These two gentlemen had ferried a new Beagle Airedale (G-ASBI) from England to Adelaide in June 1963 and purchased the Dragonfly to fly back to England. |
| 02SEP63 | Cancelled from Australian Register. |
| 02NOV63 | The Dragonfly was christened "Endeavour" in a ceremony at Bankstown. The aircraft was painted white with blue and gold trim. |
| 21NOV63 | British CofA renewed. (Source: Air-Britain) |
| DEC63 | Restored to the British Register as G-AEDT to Lord Trefgarne, Shoreham, U.K.. |
| 01DEC63 | Departed Bankstown for Brisbane on the first leg of its flight to England. Fitted with 175 gallons capacity fuel tanks, giving a range of 1100 miles or an endurance of 11½ hours. The route was to be via New Guinea and Palau to Singapore but at the last moment the Indonesian Government approved a landing at Djakarta so the more direct route was taken. |
| 24DEC63 | Arrived at London Gatwick Airport, from Australia. |
| 24DEC63 | Arrived at Shoreham ex Australia, name "Endeavour", "Australia to England" and badges of Royal Aero Club of NSW on its blue & white paint scheme. Since then it has been receiving a leisurely overhaul. (Source: Air-Britain) |
| 64 | Sold to the Tallmantz Museum Collection, California. |
| 07MAY64 | Report on the Biggin Hill Air Fair: "A ping pong batted marshal, weaned on Bolkow Juniors, heroically jousting with a backwards-taxying Globemaster....a Hermes scything its way through a receding tide of mums and dads....their precious offspring devouring a Proctor with all the measured restraint of vultures at the corpse of a time expired zebra.... These - and others - were the lasting impressions of the Air Fair which erupted on May 7th. The eruption was supposed to coincide with the departure for America of the Dragonfly G-AEDT, but the presence of its wings at Rearsby and its fuselage at Shoreham probably contributed to its non-appearance at Biggin." (Sourcs: Report on the Biggin Hill Air Fair of 07MAY64 which appeared in Air-Britain's BCAN edited by Dennis Fox). |
| 30JUL64 | Departed Gatwick on ferry flight to the USA. Flown by Charles Masefield and Lord Trefgarne. |
| 31JUL64 | Departed Prestwick for Stornoway, Reykjavik, Sondre Stromford, Goose Bay, Montreal and New York. Painted as G-AEDT "Endeavour" with additional titles "Australia to England to USA". (Source: Air-Britain) |
| 05AUG64 | Arrived in New York.(Source: Air-Britain) |
| AUG64 | Added to the US Register as N2304 to Tallmantz Collection, Santa Ana, California. |
| 66 | Advertised for sale by Tallmantz for $8,000. |
| JAN67 | Registered to Rosen Novak Auto Co., Omaha, Nebraska as N2304. |
| APR69 | Registered to J.L. Tertling of Boise, Idaho and held in a deteriorating condition at Glider Field, Boise, Idaho as part of the Tertling collection of vintage aircraft and gliders. |
| 20SEP86 | The entire Tertling collection went to auction with the Dragonfly described as "dismantled and needs total restoration". |
| SEP86 | Purchased by Brian Woodford, Wessex Aviation and Transport Ltd., Henstridge, Somerset, England for US$41,000. The aircraft was shipped to the U.K. in late 1986 to undergo restoration to airworthy standard by Ron Souch and his team at The Aeroplane Company, Sarisbury Green, Hampshire. On arrival in the U.K. the aeroplane was still painted as G-AEDT so it is doubtful if the U.S. registration N2304 was ever applied to the aircraft. Although the wings were found to be in relatively good condition, a new fuselage had to be built using many of the original steel parts and some of the original spruce parts. The aircraft was restored to the UK Register as G-AEDT in the name of Brian Woodford, Wessex Aviation and Transport Ltd. and painted in the blue and silver colours which the aircraft wore during its ownership by Sir Philip Sassoon. (RW) |
| 15JUL88 | First flight after 18 months of restoration. Piloted by Martin Barraclough. (RW) |
| 24JUL88 | First public post-restoration appearance at the Badminton Fly-in. (RW) |
| 96 | Sold to Colin Smith (Croydon Aircraft Company), Mandeville, Gore, New Zealand, having flown only 58 hours in England since its restoration. (RW) |
| AUG97 | Colin Smith went to England to pack the aircraft at Cliff Lovell's hangar at Chilbolton. (RW) |
| 19DEC97 | The shipping container with the Dragonfly arrived at Mandeville, NZ. Around this time the aircraft was registered ZK-AYR to Barry Donovan, a flight engineer with Cathay Pacific. (RW) |
| 07APR98 | First flown at Mandeville. (RW) |
| 31JAN05 | As of this date, the aircraft had flown 208 hours since restoration and was still based at Mandeville. (RW) |
| MAR12 | The aircraft is advertised for sale on Trade-A-Plane at US$1,980,000.00. |
| Issue | Date | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 22MAR12 |
The
aircraft is advertised for sale.
|
| 7 | 25JUL11 |
Added
a photograph of the aircraft at Nhill in 1950 thanks to Paul Miller.
|
| 6 | 10MAY07 |
Added
a magnificent air-to-air photo of ZK-AYR thanks to Xavier Méal.
|
| 5 | 14DEC05 |
Added
more detail from DEC63 to AUG64 from Air-Britain sources thanks to
Geoff Goodall.
|
| 4 | 24AUG05 |
Several
additions and amendments thanks to Richard Waugh (annotated RW).
|
| 3 | 23OCT04 |
Thanks
to Ed Coates I have added an image of the aeroplane with Bush Pilots
Airways and another with the Griffith Aero Club.
|
| 2 | 27APR04 |
Added
the date of entry into service with Bush Pilots (23JUN51).
|
| 1 | 18APR03 |
Original
Issue. Thanks to Geoff Goodall.
|
