The aircraft concerned never served with 22 Sqdn. And in actual fact never served with any other operational units. Served with OTU's and only served with 30 Sqdn for a few weeks until written off.
There was a surplus at that time of Beaufighters and I suspect that it was written off because they could not find another r/h wing for it. Aircraft as it stands at Harold Thomas's today is fitted with a replacement Beaufort wing.
Have had a fair bit to do with this airplane until Harold died, and really it could have been returned to service if they could have found the parts with some speed. The fact the airplane was shiiped back to Australia tends to support this.
As for the photo be labled wrong well I would back the aircraft history card every time.
Regards
Col
The crane could have been borrowed, as when I joined the air force in 1957, we were still using Federal and Fowker cranes, may have been loaned by the Yanks.
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Vietnam Vet and proud of it.
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