Both VH-ABV and its sister ship VH-ABW were Lockheed Electra 10A aircraft imported by MacRobertson Miller Aviation Co. (MMA) in 1938 for the North West run.
Following their arrival in Adelaide on 5 December that year, both aircraft were assembled at Parafield.
Both VH-ABV and VH-ABW were constructed by Lockheed at Burbank in California, then shipped as deck cargo on the SS Tolken to Port Adelaide. Both aircraft were assembled at Parafield under the supervision of Captain Horrie Miller, Managing Director of MMA and Frank Colquhoun, Chief Engineer of MMA, test flown at Parafield, then delivered to MMA in Perth. They were used on the 12-stop, 2, 300-mile Perth-Darwin route.
VH-ABW was readied and departed Parafield for Perth. It was flown by Captain Jimmy Woods and First Officer C L Browne and its passengers comprised Captain Horrie Miller, Mrs Miller, a Lockheed agent, Frank Colquhoun and a Department of Civil Aviation Aeradio officer.
On arrival in Perth, the Electras were painted with the MacRobertson-Miller Aviation Co Ltd name and their own names on the nose of each aircraft. VH-ABW was named RMA Kimberley, with the letters RMA indicating that it was Royal Mail Aircraft.
VH-ABW entered service on the MMA Perth-Darwin route in February 1939.
During 1939, flooding stranded VH-ABW at Port Hedland Aerodrome.
During World War II, VH-ABV & ABW were the only MMA aircraft not impressed by the RAAF, as both these Lockheed Electras were considered essential transport for the north-west of Western Australia.
In 1940, VH-ABW made a forced-landing at Broome in 1940 due to loss of engine oil.
In 1941, it sustained damage in a landing at Carnarvon but there were no injuries to its 2 crew or 7 passengers.
VH-ABW was involved in evacuation flights to Darwin and Broome in March 1942. MMA gave their crews maximum
discretion to carry urgent excess loads during the period of Japanese air raids on the North-West.
In 1942, VH-ABW piloted by Jimmy Woods spotted a Dornier Do-24 X-36 carrying forty passengers that had fled Batavia after and landed south of Broome on 80 Mile Beach. Fearing that Japanese aircraft were pursuing them, the crew had burnt the plane. Woods circled the beach, noted what was needed and returned with water from nearby Anna Plains station. Later that day, the station-owner transported passengers back to Anna Plains.
Late in 1942, when many ANA aircraft were involved in war work in New Guinea. VH-ABV was chartered to ANA for a couple of weeks to operate ANA’s Essendon-Perth, Essendon-Sydney, Essendon-Launceston services. VH-ABV returned to service with MMA in January 1943.
On 17 June 1946, VH-ABW crashed on takeoff from Broome and came to rest in Roebuck Creek. While there were no serious injuries to the three people on board (Captain Jimmy Woods, First Officer Rodney Pyke and pilot in training Forrest Hammersley), VH-ABW was damaged beyond repair and was written off.
Our Frank Colquhoun collection includes:
See our VH-ABW Flickr Album for digitised images and other digitised information.
Maylands Historical and Peninsula Association acknowledges the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work, live, and learn. We acknowledge that we tell the stories of Noongar Country and we pay our respects to Elders past and present. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website may contain images or names of people who have passed away.