VH-UXH C.J. Levien

History:

08MAR36	Completed at Burbank.
16MAY36	Export CofA E-1957 issued.
07JUN36	Departed San Francisco as deck cargo on the S.S. "Hauraki" for Adelaide. Called en route at Dunedin, N.Z. to enable Union Airways to inspect the Electra.
31JUL36	Arrived at Port Adelaide, SA. on delivery to Guinea Airways Ltd who had purchased the Electra for £18,000. The aircraft was assembled in the Adelaide Airways hangar at Parafield under the supervision of Lockheed engineer, Dale E. Hixson.
04AUG36	Registration application from Guinea Airways Ltd.
05AUG36	Test flown at Parafield by Lockheed test pilot Vernon Dorrell.
20AUG36	CofR No 603 and CofA No 560 issued as VH-UXH, the first of its type on the Register.
20AUG36	Flown to Essendon, Melbourne in 2 hours 17 minutes for demonstration flights on behalf of Brown and Dureau, Lockheed's Australasian agents. Captained by GAL General Manager, Eric Chater, with GAL Assistant G.M., Frank T. O'Dea as First Officer. Guinea Airways named the aeroplane "C.J. Levien" in honour of the airline's founder.
05SEP36	Flew to Mascot, Sydney in the record time of 2 hours 26 minutes. Flown by Eric Chater and Bert Heath.
05SEP36	Departed for Brisbane for further demonstration flights.
18SEP36	Departed Brisbane for Port Douglas (5 hours).
19SEP36	Departed Port Douglas direct to Wau, New Guinea (4 hours).
28OCT36	Departed Wau on a charter to Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup. Overnighted at Port Moresby and Brisbane.
13NOV36	Returned to Wau.
12FEB37	Although popular and reliable, the Electra was found to be unsuitable for New Guinea operations. The Electra departed Wau on this date on its return to Parafield. Arrived Brisbane in 10 hours flying time having refuelled at Townsville.
FEB37	The Electra was used to survey a proposed Adelaide to Darwin service. Crewed by Eric Chater and Bert Heath.
22FEB37	Commenced a weekly service from Adelaide to Darwin.
25APR37	The aircraft was damaged at Tennant Creek when a truck backed into the port propeller. The aircraft was subsequently flown to Darwin with the damaged propeller. The company was later reprimanded by DCA.
22MAY37	Departed Darwin for Melbourne on charter to the Sun newspaper carrying photographs of the coronation of King George VI.
28JUL37	The Electra, captained by Hugh Hughes, surveyed a new route from Adelaide to Sydney via Mildura, Hay and Cootamundra. The aircraft returned to Parafield the next day.
16AUG37	The new service to Sydney commenced. The service lasted only 11 months, finishing on 16JUL38.
DEC42	Flown to Port Moresby to participate in the Buna campaign.
43	For much of the war the aircraft was used on Guinea Airways courier service between Adelaide and Darwin. Numerous forced landings were made although the aircraft was not damaged.
05FEB44	Forced landing near Cowell, SA.
26AUG46	Withdrawn from service. Total Time: 16,711 hours.
28AUG46	Sold to Union Airways of New Zealand as ZK-ALH.
18SEP46	Cancelled from the Australian Register.
30SEP46	Arrived Wellington, N.Z. on the "Karitane". After re-assembly at Rongotai, it was ferried to Palmerston North as VH-UXH.
13JAN47	New Zealand CofA issued as ZK-ALH. The CofA had been delayed by problems with the fitment of radio equipment. The aircraft was named "Koreke" in NAC service.
24FEB49	The aircraft was damaged at Hamilton when the wheels were retracted instead of the flaps. Total Time: 19,607 hours.
08MAR49	Test flown at Palmerston North after repairs.
29JUL49	Withdrawn from service and placed in outside storage at Palmerston North.
FEB51	Sold to Rural Aviation Ltd as a source of spares for their Beaver fleet.
12MAR51	Cancelled from the New Zealand Register.
MAR53	The aircraft was dismantled at Palmerston North. The fuselage went to Longburn near Palmerston North and was later scrapped.
80s	Parts of the fuselage were airfreighted to Australia for use as patterns in the restoration of Electra VH-UZO. These parts were subsequently scrapped.

Issue	Date	Remarks
9	28NOV22	Added a slideshow.
8	19NOV21	Added an image from the State Library of NSW.
7	26JAN17	Added two images of the aircraft taken in February 1938 thanks to Deborah Raper. Image 1Image 2
6	04SEP16	Added an image of the aircraft at Katherine in OCT38 thanks to John Hopton.
5	03APR16	Refreshed page layout with no change to data.
4	01SEP12	Added a John Harrison image of the aircraft thanks to Phil Vabre of the CAHS. Added an image of the aircraft in camouflage thanks to David Freeman and Geoff Goodall.
3	06MAR06	Added an image of the aircraft as ZK-ALH. Thanks to Ed Coates.
2	13OCT01	Added three new images.

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