Victa Airtourer 50th
In discussing the 50th Anniversary of the first flight of the Victa Airtourer, mention should be made that on 11 November 1958, East-West Airlines announced they had purchased the manufacturing rights to the aircraft and would commence building them at their Tamworth base. A new company would be formed to undertake the construction and it was planned to build 12 in the first batch once Certification had been achieved. In early January 1959, enthusiastic announcements were made by the EWA General Manager, Captain Archie Smith about the manufacturing plans for the aircraft including the employment of 22 tradesmen to work on it's construction.
The Airtourer prototype arrived in Tamworth on 2 August 1959 where it commenced local flying but shortly afterwards, on the 22 August, the Airtourer suffered an engine failure and force landed in a local Tamworth paddock where it was substantially damaged. This mishap appeared to end East-West's interest in the aircraft and little was heard of it again in East-West circles.