IT WAS an icon in Midland in the ‘80s, an eight-tonne Douglas DC3 parked outside the local McDonald’s that hosted the coolest children’s parties for nearly 15 years.
It’s part of West Australian folklore and now the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the so-called Flying Hamburger has been solved.
In an interview on 96FM on Monday, Luke Howe explained how his family came to own the historic plane which now sits in his father’s garden in Myalup.
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“The plane was taken away from Macca’s Midland in the mid-90s due to occupational health and safety reasons,” he said.
“It was taken to the old RAAF base in Caversham where it sat until about the year 2000 becoming more and more dilapidated.
“It was tidied up and used in the ABC production of the Shark Net.
“In order to try and recoup costs the ABC put the plane up for tender and my dad won it.”
Mr Howe said the plane had a fascinating history.
“It was built in May 1944 for the US Air Force and served in the Pacific,” he said.
“It was sold as war surplus in the late ‘40s and was bought by Reg Ansett.
“Reg operated it for Ansett and then it went to New Guinea for a while before it was retired in 1971.”
Mr Howe said the plane was then donated to a troubled boys home in Adelaide Hills.
“The boys there played in it for a few years before Macca’s in Midland acquired the plane and shifted it across the Nullarbor.”
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