Welcome to The de Havilland Aircraft Association of South Africa

de Havilland DH.104 Dove
c/n 04087

DH.104 Dove c/n 04087 Registrations carried: ZS-BTM

de Havilland DH.104 Dove c/n 04087 ZS-BTM Photograph: John Miller

The following 4 photographs and the message below came in from Bill Teague, 7 January 2012. Hello John, Thank you for your e-mail & the greetings; also wonderful to see old ZS-BXA having it’s own page. This is how the Rand Mines Dove ZS-BTM ended it’s life & career in March 1951. George Gray was checking out another pilot, I think it might have been either Hansie Haaroff or Peter Place, when the port engine had a catastrophic structural failure just before touch down, George told me afterwards that he thought the bang was the gear collapsing so he firewalled the throttles, but now they were heading up the slope towards the blue gum plantation and ran out of ideas, options and airspeed all at the same time... Thankfully both pilots suffered only minor injuries. The registration was ZS-BTM. Just before the situation came unglued the other pilot said to George “I hope your insurance is paid up” The photographs are courtesy of the late George Gray’s son Kevin from his father’s personal albums but undoubtedly must have been taken by one of the Johannesburg newspapers. Will forward other snippets when & if I come across any. Best regards, Bill.