Ownership History:

Ordered new by Trans Australia Airlines

 

Construction completed at the San Diego plant - September 21, 1948

Serial Number 93

Entered onto Australian Aircraft Register as VH-TAS - October 8, 1948

Registered to Australian National Airlines Commission

Departed San Diego on delivery flight to Australia - October 1948

Arrived Melbourne at conclusion of delivery flight - October 24, 1948

Delivery route: London - Rome - Nicosia - Basra - Karachi - Delhi - Calcutta - Rangoon - Singapore - Makasar -

Darwin - Alice Springs - Adelaide - Melbourne

Aircraft was named 'James Cook' & later 'Thomas Mitchell'

Operated first revenue service - November 3, 1948

Established a speed record for flight Melbourne-Hobart of 74 minutes - March 27, 1954

Operated final revenue service - June 22, 1956

Withdrawn from use and stored at Melbourne's Essendon Airport

Sold to Pakistan International Airlines - July 4, 1956

Departed Melbourne on delivery flight to Pakistan - July 7, 1956

Arrived Karachi at conclusion of delivery flight - July 8, 1956

Delivery route: Alice Springs - Darwin - Sourabaya - Singapore - Bangkok - Rangoon - Calcutta - New Delhi - Karachi

Cancelled from Australian Aircraft Register - July 13, 1956

Entered onto the Pakistan Aircraft Register as AP-AHS

Sold to N.V. Fokker as a trade for Pakistan International Airlines Friendship - October 17, 1959

Entered onto the Dutch Aircraft Register as PH-NLP - ?

Operated by Euravia Air Charter N.V.

Sold to Beldex Corporation - July 6, 1960

Entered onto the U.S. Aircraft Register as N559R - ?

Ferried to St Louis for fitment of executive interior by Remmert-Warner

Sold to Peabody Coal Company, St Louis - January 6, 1961

Sold to Louis Larramore, California - September 30, 1961

Reregistered as N559L - ?

Sold to Beldex Corporation - May 11, 1962

Reregistered as N568R - ?

Sold to Stephens Inc, Little Rock, Arizona - February 14, 1963

Sold to Little Rock Airmotive, then to Faberge Inc - September 21, 1970

Reregistered as N396CG - ?

Sold to Western Commander Inc - August 22, 1972

Ownership transferred to Western Leasing Corporation - August 23, 1972

Sold to the Summa Corportation (Howard Hughes) - August 21, 1974

Sold to Kings Point Corporation, Las Vagas - February 25, 1977

Sold to Gemini Management Corporation, Tulsa, Oklahoma - November 9, 1977

Sold to H. A. Cousins, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan - July 24, 1980

Cancelled from the U.S. Aircraft Register - February 20, 1981

Placed in storage at Pontiac Airport, Michigan

Restored to the U.S. Aircraft Register as N396CG - ?

Sold to C & M Airways Inc, Longview, Texas - August 25, 1989

Sold to Garr Aero Inc, Stillwater, Oklahoma - November 29, 1989

Sold to R. Stevenson, Haskell, Oklahoma - January 5, 1990

Sold to Gunnell Aviation Inc, Santa Monica, California - June 1991

Sold to E. A. Schnepf, Tucson, Arizona - October 29, 1993

Used as a personal transport by singer Glenn Campbell

Withdrawn from service and stored at Camarillo Airport, California as non airworthy - 1999

Reportedly being held in storage for a Camarillo museum since 2003

Acquired by California Air Heritage Foundation - August 2009

Observed being dismantled at Camarillo Airport - August / October 2010

Acquired by the Golden Age Flight Museum - 2016

Moved from Camarillo Airport to Shafter Minter Field, CA.

Awaiting relocation to permanent display in Bakersfield, CA.