Lockheed Vega variant
Lockheed Vega DL-1A Special
One-off air racing and record-breaking aircraft based on the metal-fuselaged DL-1, built by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation and exported to the United Kingdom. It was the only Vega ever to operate in Australia.
- 1
- Units built
History
Puch, from London to South Africa
The DL-1A Special was a one-off based on the metal-fuselaged DL-1, built by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation and exported to the United Kingdom for Lt Cmdr Glen Kidston, who named it Puch. It was first registered G-ABFE and then re-registered G-ABGK to incorporate his initials. With it he made a record-breaking flight from the UK to South Africa in April 1931.
From the MacRobertson to the scrapyard
Kidston died the following month. The aircraft was eventually sold to Australian airline owner Horrie Miller, who entered it in the MacRobertson Air Race. Miller's chief pilot, Capt. Jimmy Woods, flew it in the race, but it overturned on landing at Aleppo; Woods withdrew and the DL-1A was shipped to Australia.
After repairs and a new registration, VH-UVK, Miller used it for charter and leisure flying until the Royal Australian Air Force impressed it in 1941. In 1944 it passed to the Australian Department of Civil Aviation which, on the strength of RAAF pilots' reports, declared the Vega to have serious pitch control problems and ordered it scrapped. James Woods's attempts to reclaim it were ignored and the aircraft was destroyed in October 1945. It was the only Vega to operate in Australia.