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| RAAF Survey Flight Former Assignments Guinea Airways Ltd. |
Aircraft History Built by Junkers as W34d serial number J2610. Purchased by Guinea Airways Ltd.. Disassembled and shipped to Australia. On March 5, 1930 registered in Australia as VH-UNM. The plane had a black cowing and natural aluminum finish with "Junkers W34d" in a cursive font in black on the tail. Tail number 3 was painted on the rudder. This plane was also known as "Junkers No. 3". The fuselage had registration VH-UNM in large black block letters. The upper wingtips were painted black and the lower wing was painted black with registration VH-UNM in large white block letters. During July 1931, suffered an accident at Wau Airfield, details unknown then repaired. On February 6, 1933 took off from Lae Airfield piloted by O. Denny on a flight with six passengers and lost oil and force landed on an island in the Markham River without injury and minor damage to the left wing and landing gear. Afterwards, recovered and repaired. On August 14, 1933 took off piloted by Eric H. Chater on loaded with freight on a flight bound for Ramu landing groud and while landing sank into a soft patch of ground and swung into an open drain on the side of the runway that broke left undercarriage and bent the propeller. By 1937, the landing gear was removed and the plane converted into a seaplane with two large pontoon floats. Between October 1937 to December 1937 this Junkers was used to support the exploration of Lake Kutubu in the Southern Highlands of New Guinea by flying in passengers and cargo to support the expedition. On October 21, 1937 slight tail damage was discovered and flown back to Port Moresby for repairs. On October 24, 1937 flown back to Kikori and refueled to fly to Lake Kutubu and a hole in the left float was patched. On December 1, 1937 resumed flying cargo to Lake Kutubu. On December 4, 1937 flew over Adamson's patrol on the Mobi River. During February 1940 assigned to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as Junkers W34 serial number A44-3. This plane was used for survey flights in New Guinea. On February 24, 1940 photographed with floats on a slipway at the edge of Fairfax Harbor near the main wharf at Port Moresby. Fate During November 1942 scrapped. References NAA Aircraft accident and incident registers for Australia and Papua New Guinea, Section (NAA: A8324, 2) PDF page 44 (VH-UNM, May 22, 1931), 51 (VH-UNM, August 14, 1933) Junkers W34 Serial Numbers - J2610 Air Road to Gold (1933) includes footage of W34 VH-UNM parked at Lae Airfield Last Frontiers: The Explorations of Ivan Champion of Papua: A Record of Geographical Exploration in Australia's Territory of Papua Between 1926 and 1940 (1988) pages 227, 229 An Anthropologist in Papua: The Photography of F.E. Williams (2001) by Michael W. Young, Julia Clark and Francis E. Williams (2001) page 225 (photo arrival Kutubu) ADF Serials A44-3 Contribute
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