One of the last photos of the DH.66 prototype. Then five years old, it crashed at Kupang during a proving flight from Britain to Australia in April 1931. This photo must have been taken in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) as one of the barrels appears to read 'De Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij' and the other 'Palembang'. The photo is indeed dated 1931 by the Dutch source. Note retrofitted enclosed cockpit. Photo from: National Library of the Netherlands

'In service on the India route.' This one was the last of eleven DH.66 aircraft built, ordered as a replacement in 1929. She made a route proving flight to Cape Town in December 1931. The later DH.66 airframes featured an enclosed cockpit which was retrofitted to the earlier machines. Postcard.

Operated by West Australian Airways. Became VH-UJP at the start of 1931. Photo from: State Library of Western Australia

The prototype DH.66 Hercules. Registered 11 Dec.1925. First flight 30 Sept.1926. While on a trial mail flight from India to Australia 19 April 1931, it suffered fuel starvation in bad weather on the leg from Surabaya to Koepang and with all three engines stopped, it made a forced landing 10 miles from Koepang, Timor. After landing it struck rocks, lost its landing gear and came to rest. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair but the two crew were uninjured. Cancelled June 1931.

G-EBMZ crashed at Jask, Iran, on September 6, 1929 after the pilot misjudged the flare during a night landing. Photo from: Air Force Museum of New Zealand

The protoype of the DH.66 Hercules airliner. Similar, but a bit smaller smaller and more elegant than the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy, it was designed for the Cairo to Karachi route. Photograph presumably taken at Stag Lane. Photo from: De Havilland

VH-UJP at Archerfield. In 1936 it was sold by WA Airways of Perth to Stephens Aerial Transport of Papua New Guinea. Crashed in Papua New Guinea on February 6, 1941. Photo probably taken on its delivery flight. Photo from: State Library of Queensland

Became VH-UJP in 1931 when Australia adopted the VH- prefix. -UJP was to have a long life by the standards of the day and in 1936 was sold in Papua New Guinea where it was destroyed at Salamaua by a Japanese air raid in February, 1942. In PNG it had been used as a freighter and at one stage flew dismantled trucks to the gold mines. What parts did not fit inside were strapped to the outside.