Country of origin:

Australia

Description:

Two-seat light biplane floatplane

Power Plant:

One 90 kw (120 hp) de Havilland Gipsy 2 four-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

As noted in the Genairco article, General Aircraft was taken over by Tugan Aircraft. A special seaplane variant was built for Rabaul Airways and became VH-URH (c/n 1 or TA-1). It was also noted as having the construction number Tugan c/n 1. It was built for service in Papua New Guinea, and was registered from 4 April 1934 to 3 April 1935 when the Certificate of Registration lapsed. In this short period it was found to be unsuitable for seaplane operations in Papua New Guinea, so the aircraft was withdrawn from service, abandoned and left to disintegrate.

Three other Genaircos were fitted with floats but differed in a number of ways from VH-URH, thsey being conversions of the Genairco, whereas VH-URH was designed and built specifically as a floatplane. Another was VH-UNY (c/n 12) powered by a Cirrus Hermes I engine. It was registered to General Aircraft Company on 6 May 1930, being sold to Adastra Airways Ltd in February 1931. It crashed at Mascot, NSW on 28 April 1933 and was rebuilt and fitted with floats in August 1933 for Rabaul Airways Syndicate of Rabaul, PNG. After a number of forced landings due to various problems, the aircraft hit a tree whilst landing near Rainau Plantation and was wrecked on 15 October 1933.

Other Genaircos fitted with floats were VH-UOH (c/n 17) and VH-UOJ (c/n 18), both registered to General Aircraft Company Ltd of Mascot in mid 1930, being exported to Fiji in March 1933 where they were operated by Fiji Airways on subsidised airline routes. VH-UOH later became VQ-FAC and was eventually returned to Australia as VH-UUI. Its subsequent history has been noted in the Genairco article.