Aaaah
tinny we bought one from the RFDS qnd operated it 7 times a day 7 days a week from Perth to Rottnest (circa 18 nm) several decades ago.
VH-FDS Lycoming conversion tarted up to look like a 1920s railway carriage, Fri arvo flights girls in fishnet stockings and flapper gear serving champange. Went well until one of the pilots tried mating it with huffer.
Great STOL ship handled like a Chipmunk.
Caption to the above says it all.
Built in 1951 as a Mk.I, registered VH-DRC, delivered to Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) and, named as "Gordon Alberry", operated for the Royal Flying Docter Service (RFDS). In 1959 the aircraft was bought by the RFDS but still operated by TAA. By 1961 the aircraft had been converted from a Mk.I via Mk.IF, Mk.II to Mk.III. In 1963 it was re-registered VH-FDS, re-named "Norman Bourke" and was operated by the Queensland Section till 1968.
From 1969 the aircraft changed ownership several times and was damaged beyond repair in an accident on July 30, 1973. In 1989 it was donated to the Queensland Air Museum at Caloundra, Tasmania.