Originally Posted by
John Eacott
...The tailwheel AS365C ‘Daphne’ was our routine Air 490/PolAir 1 for Victoria Police in the 1980s, later supplemented by two more in about mid/late 80s IIRC.
Yes, VH-PVF was the first Dauphin registered in Oz on 1 Oct 1979 (and great to know it is now on display at Moorabbin:
https://www.aarg.com.au/dauphin-2-helicopter.html) with VH-PVA and VH-PVK added in 1986. The latter both exported to France for parts according to AustAirData, though I see PVK was with CQ Rescue for a while after its time with Victoria Police. There was a time when the AS365 was somewhat popular for EMS work in Australia with machines also with SLSA at 3 bases and also with CareFlight. The only Dauphin with skids that I am aware came onto the Australian register was a
SA365C-3, VH-HRM with SLSA in Newcastle. Sadly it was destroyed in an accident, but luckily not fatal.