Good luck to the old lady. Like so many aircraft (or ships) she has gone from Queen of the Skies to tramp steamer in her late middle age.
I want to think of a Bogart lookalike skipper, with a battered cap, and a grubby shirt. I want to think of a keen young copilot, who is so keen to get into the air that he will happily pole an aircraft that is as old as his mother. The engineer will drink coffee from a mug that is furtively topped up from a hipflask.
And what better venue to operate in than steamy Pacific airstrips, and what better cargo than 'general freight' around PNG?
I can visualise the movie already. I want Draper to play the engineer, I have a skipper in mind but the libel laws are too strict.
And on the ground is a sassy Oz girl pilot who flies the near suicidal rescue mission when the old Belfast finally runs out of puff on an upcountry airstrip where the locals prefer pilots to pork in their stewpot.
The Oz GP? Reddo, of course.