@ old, not bold
You wrote, back in July:
'I have only just seen your post above with the picture of the dismantled Prentice in 1992.
Unless someone repainted mine back in Service colours and the Service number, it isn't G-AOPL.
Which raises the question of how in hell 2 Prentices managed to make it all the way to South Africa! G-AOPL had a few incidents on route, to put it mildly. I would be fascinated to know the history of the one in your picture.
Edit. Guess what, I googled VS609 Prentice and got a whole lot of information; some of it total rubbish on the RAAF Museum site eg:-
"The RAF sold the aircraft in 1956 as G-AOPL and flew from England to South Africa in 16 days in 1957. Flying in South Africa as G-AOPL until 1967, it was then re-registered as ZS-EUS and completely overhauled. After performing an emergency landing on the freeway near Halfway House, Pretoria, in 1968, it became derelict and found it's way to the SAAF Museum."
1967 was the year it arrived in SA, registered as G-AOPL. '
I suppose the only way to prove that the Prentice in my photo is the same as the one you took down in 1967 would be to check the c/n plate...
It must be assumed that the owner of ZS-EUS, as you mention above, had it re-painted in service colours. I wonder who owned ZS-EUS ref:
Aviation Traders Percival Prentice bulk buy? - Page 2 - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums
The official registration history of 'OPL can be found here:
GINFO Search Results | Aircraft Register | Operations and Safety
and what I assume is a list of Prentices stored (dumped) at Southend in the fifties, and which I was able to crawl around in May 1958 is here:
Percival Prentice - Southend Timeline
What I find hard to believe is a photo on Flickr of 'OPL reportedly taken in 2008 - perhaps that was the date it was scanned...
G-AOPL | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Do you recognise the location? Nice paint job!
I've been able to source a photo of ZS-EUS (albeit not a freebie) at:
Military Aviation Review
where it is shown as 'wfu Wonderboom'
I doubt whether any of this is new to you but I've enjoyed sleuthing!
vbrgds
Alan