Ron,
I was recently at the War Memorial and over a couple of days, scrolled through the vehicle record books (27 of them), which allegedly contain the records of all vehicles taken on charge by the Army until around about the 1980s.
Just did a check of the record book pages I photographed and have attached the page relating to Carrier (hull #) 434. Don't know what if anything, you might make of the red ink entries on the left, but at least you can verify your engine #.
It would appear from the entry on the left of the right hand page that your carrier sailed for the Middle East on the "Tarandantes", in July 1941. If that is correct, I guess that makes it one of the few LP2As that were sent to the Middle East - and returned.
Jack
