From 1964, DCA purchased five current model Beechcraft Bonanzas - three V35s, an S35 and an A36 model. They were purchased at a cost of A$41,000 each, as part of a policy to operate modern production light aircraft.
VH-CAE (c/n D-8358) was the second of DCA's Bonanzas and was registered new on 15 June 1967. Note the DCA insignia just beneath the windscreen. This VH-CAE was actually the second DCA aircraft to carry those marks, the previous being a Tiger Moth.
The photo above was taken at a somewhat gloomy Adelaide/Parafield on 22 March 1968. Note that the aircraft is, rather unusually, not painted in DCA house colours. The photo below shows the same aircraft on the apron outside the Departmental hangar at Melbourne/Essendon in October 1977.
The photo below shows VH-CAE again on the apron
outside the Departmental hangar at Melbourne/Essendon, probably in the
1980s. It has been repainted into the standard Department
of Aviation colour scheme - the corner of the DOA logo can just
be seen on the original image above the wing on the rear fuselage.
Along with the other CAA Bonanzas, VH-CAE was sold. It was re-registered from the CAA to Leslie Carter of Glenbrook, NSW, on 12 June 1992. It later changed hands and spent some time in Coonabarabran, NSW, before moving in June 2007 to Mundaring, WA.
(Photos: Top-John M. Smith / Middle-Greg Thom / Bottom-Graeme Wrigley)
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