This all metal passenger aircraft was powered by a 735hp Wright SR-1820-F2 Cyclone radial and was the only one of its type in Australia. It had previously been owned by the American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth for his fourth and last Antarctic expedition in 1938/39. They left New York on 16 August 1938 on board the expedition’s ship Wyatt Earp. In Antarctica the big Northrop (NR14267, c/n 42) was fitted with skis and operated alongside a smaller Aeronca (later VH-ACK) on floats.

When the Wyatt Earp docked in Australia at the end of the expedition, the Australian Government purchased the ship and the two aircraft on board. Click here to see a photo of the aircraft in storage at Mascot in 1939. In 1940 the Northrop was taken out of storage and allocated to the Department of Civil Aviation to assist in the task of calibration of radio navigation aids. It was added to the Civil Register as VH-ADR on 16 August 1940 and flown from Sydney/RAAF Richmond to Melbourne/Essendon for a complete overhaul by Australian National Airways.

The aircraft was operated by DCA until July 1942 when it was released to the Allied Air Forces Directorate of Air Transport and operated by the US Army Air Corps in Australia on charter for several months. It was then taken over, still on charter, by the RAAF during 1942 and issued military serial A61-1.

This photo is thought to show the aircraft in DCA service, although date and location are not known.

(Photo: CAHS/Len Dobbin collection)

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