Hughes 269C - VH-BNZ at Point Stuart Station
Keith Stewart, piloting the helicopter, says:
"The photo was taken by my wife who was in a very shakey position up a very spindly tree. Had those very angry animals burst through that hessian she really would have had a story to tell! I was working as a mustering pilot for Point Stuart Station which is about 50nm East of Darwin. It was taken in 1983, about August I think.
"An interesting aside.. VH-UTI, one the the stiff wings on your site, was the very first aircraft I ever went for a ride in. In the late fifties it was being operated by a fellow at Condobolin NSW. As a young kid I used to spend days at a time hanging around the Airport and managed to cadge a ride in it. The Pilot at the time was a Peter Jones, I can't remember if it was him or Bill Campbell-Hicks who had it at the time. It is a small world. That Aircraft is now hangared about 100 metres from where I work at Bankstown. When I learnt to fly in the mid-sixties I trained in a 172, VH-MDB. It also now parks about 100 metres from my workplace."
You can see a photo of VH-UTI in the Aircraft Register photo archives.