The unregistered and unapproved Merlin training glider built for the Gliding Club of Victoria by a team led by Norm Hyde. Tail from a Slingsby Kadet but rest original. Flew April 1943 as a tandem 2-seater with parasol wing. Crashed Benalla during a winch launch at club's 1948/49 summer camp. It had done 2600 flights for the club. Wreckage sold to RAAF Forest Hill and rebuilt by cadets. New fuselage but wing and tail from original. Crashed. Sold to Canberra Gliding Club and rebuilt as seen in photo. Crashed Cootamundra on December 27, 1959 when wing detached after casting off from an aero tow.

Investigators examine the wreckage of the Merlin glider of the Canberra Gliding Club, which crashed on 27 December 1959 when its wing detached soon after casting off from an aero tow. Pilot killed. The wing strut to fuselage attachments were inadequate, as the result of a rebuilt after an earlier accident. The unregistered glider first flew in 1943 and had made several thousand flights before the fatal final rebuild. Gliding was unregulated in 1943 with no registration or type approvals required. When gliding became regulated in the 1950s, existing gliders did not have to comply.