Airco D.H.9 F1278/G-EAQM, the first single-engined aircraft to fly from England to Australia, has just been restored for the Australian War Memorial at Canberra.

G-EAQM’s crash at Moulmein, Burma. Repairs took six weeks, and a new radiator had to be obtained from Singapore - it consisted of two “Overland” car radiators welded together.

G-EAQM tips over an irrigation channel after landing at Sourabaya in the Dutch East Indies. A complete repaint at Singapore had left only P.D. on the fuselage.

A major setback during the restoration: the rear fuselage at Canberra after an errant motor vehicle careered through the wall of the workshop. Longerons were snapped, the stern box was smashed, and the fragments of the port elevator had to be swept from the floor and reassembled jigsaw-style with epoxy glue.