A SLICE of Australian aviation history, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, touched down at Echuca Aerodrome on Friday.
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The Kanana (call sign VH-ABR) arrived in Echuca at 12pm while on a routine flight and was already back home in Melbourne by 2pm.
Chief pilot Ken Norman said that the aircraft passed through Bendigo before stopping in Echuca.
“We fly routinely just for crew training and to keep the airplane operating and airworthy,” he said.
Kanana lived a long and eventful life as a civil aircraft before finding a home at Melbourne Jet Base in August 2018.
Built in 1938 and assembled at Essendon Airport, the aircraft was chartered for use by the Royal Australian Air Force at the start of World War II.
It was badly damaged in 2014, which led to a three-year process to make it airworthy again.
This involved an engine overhaul and new flight instruments, oil tanks, elevators and landing gear actuators being installed.
Kanana fired up its engines in 2017 for the first time in nine years and is now used for private and charity events and air shows with the possibility of charter in the future.
Pilot Daniel Page said he has been flying the Kanana for 18 months and still gets a kick out of it.
“It’s great still being able to embrace aviation history with this aircraft 81 years old and still flying,” he said.
“The DC-3 is probably on most pilot’s bucket list. It’s basically the birth of commercial aviation.
“It’s a privilege to still be out here embracing the country towns.”
You can learn more about the legendary Kanana by visiting www.legendarykanana.com.au/.
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