ADF Aircraft Serial Numbers
RAAF A14 Tugan (Wackett) LJW7 Gannet
| Aircraft Serial | c/n | Aircraft History |
| A4-1 | TA.55 | Received in November 1935. The first Gannet temporarily carried the serial A4-1, which was the number later allocated to the first Avro Anson. |
| A14-1 | TA.55 | Received in November 1935. The first Gannet temporarily carried the serial A4-1, which was the number later allocated to the first Avro Anson. Sold and registered VH-UVY 29/10/36 to 02/07/40 when it was impressed as A14-7. On 05/06/1937 it crashed at Gosford NSW. |
| A14-2 | TA.56 | Ex VH-UXE. Delivered 30/03/37. Returned as VH-UXE 25/07/38. |
| A14-3 | TA.57 | Ex VH-UYE. Delivered 03/02/38. Converted to components 21/02/46. |
| A14-4 | TA.58 | Ex VH-UYF. Delivered 11/08/38. Crashed Exmouth 25/08/44. Killing the crew; F/O Gordon Dix, Sgt Norm Catton, S/L J Sangster. I found a reference to A14-148 in a National Archives Search. I believe it is a miss-print for A14-4! |
| A14-5 | TA.59 | Ex VH-UZW. Delivered 24/03/38. |
| A14-6 | TA.53? | Crashed 30/07/40, Crew: LAC Martin and P/O Winter. To 2 Air Ambulance 04/42, Modified as ambulance 05/42. Crashed 19/05/42 Milliingimbi Island. Aircraft overturned in a swamp and was written off. Nil injuries. The aircraft location remains unknown. Robert Wiseman has sent the following (via Warwick Henry) "(Courtesy of the Office of Air Force History) 20 Jun 42 - Air ambulance crew survived NT ordeal On this day, a message from the Advanced Operational Base at Milingimbi, Northern Territory, advised that three members of No 2 Air Ambulance Unit (2AAU) had been found ‘alive and well’ a month after their Gannet aircraft A14-6 crashed. The men’s saga of survival began on 19 May, when they left 2AAU’s base at Batchelor to conduct an aeromedical evacuation from Groote Eylandt. When the aircraft became lost over Arnhem Land, the sergeant pilot attempted to land on what appeared to be a well-grassed plain but was actually a swamp. The crew was uninjured in the somersault crash which ensued and, after spending several days constructing a raft, they set off down the Cato River. Attacked by a crocodile and myriads of insects, and forced to endure appalling conditions with little food, they eventually reached Elcho Island where Aborigines looked after them before rowing them to Milingimbi." So, it seems that A14-6 didn’t crash on Milingimbi Is at all, rather, a long way away to the east, near the Cato River which is in East Arnhem Land, SW of Gove. It would seem that the pilot was well and truly lost as the Cato River is a long way north of Groote Eylandt! |
| A14-7 | TA.55 | Previously A14-1 and VH-UVY. Impressed into RAAF Service 02/07/40 (another report has this as 10/10/40) as A14-7. In 1940 was fitted with Menasco B65 engines and was temporarily designated a LJW 7A Gannet, until the Gipsy Six engines were reinstalled. Converted to components 21/02/46. |
The Author of this page is Darren Crick.
Source: National Archives, CASA Aircraft Records, Book "33 Days" by George Booth, aircraft status cards, Book "RAAF Air Ambulance and Medical Air Evacuation Units 1940-1946" by John Lever.
Emails: John Andrade, Stig Jarlevik, Phil Herdman, James Hollinworth, Martin Edwards, Warwick Henry .
Main Photograph: Eddie Coates.

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