Death of King George VI and accession of HM Queen Elizabeth II
And here's the (fuselage of the) wrecked Dakota at Prestwick in 1969. All the Important Bits have been taken off. Presumably it didn't take a lot of damage to make a Dakota beyond economical repair by 1969. Incidentally, it was a "proper" Dakota, ie a onetime-RAF WW2 one, built 1944, probably just happened to be in Africa in 1945-6 when demobbed and EAA were looking for aircraft.
This "Dak" was first registered to BOAC in November 1944 at Whitchurch. Did not pass to East African until October 49.: cannot find any details on its BOAC career. It was the first "Dak" owned by EAA, stayed with them for about three years before joining the French AF. Prior to that EAA had wet leased another "Dak" from Skyways. It is reported to have worn EAA livery. I have never been able to confirm that with a photo.....
Great shame it was not preserved, just a bit too early for the preservation movement. It was the first aircraft to carry a reigning British monarch. To my mind it would make a wonderful museum piece
Great shame it was not preserved, just a bit too early for the preservation movement. It was the first aircraft to carry a reigning British monarch. To my mind it would make a wonderful museum piece
BOAC in its first few postwar years used a sizeable Dakota fleet on a wide range of operations, not only from London but several were outstationed to run from points like Cairo or Aden. You could actually take one from London to Nairobi in 1948, changing planes at Cairo. Routes like London to Lagos on a Dakota, in 1948 three days each way and three times a week, would account for three, in fact likely four, aircraft on their own.
To EAA 5 years later, in November 1949, named "Kongwa Pioneer".
Edit: crossed with Mike's post.
