Four aircrew of a De Havilland Canada 4 (DHC-4) Caribou transport aircraft (A4-210), No 35 ...

Four aircrew of a De Havilland Canada 4 (DHC-4) Caribou transport aircraft (A4-210), No 35 Squadron, RAAF, at Da Lat airfield, Tuyen Duc Province. Identified from left: Unidentified; 43754 Flying Officer Brian Geoffrey Young; 222258 Pilot Officer Ian Maxwell Baldwin; Unidentified. This aircraft had just landed at Da Lat in the Central Highlands in early July 1967 when a section of a newly dug drainage culvert collapsed under the weight of the aircraft. The sudden drop severely damaged the starboard wing, including the engine, propeller and undercarriage. An Australian repair team arrived from Vung Tau and after a fortnight's effort (under adverse conditions) repaired the aircraft to a flyable condition where it returned to Vung Tau for further repairs. Further inspection of the damaged wing revealed that the repairs were beyond the capability of available Australian equipment and the job was passed to the United States Army 330th Company, where technicians put in 1400 man hours of repair work before returning it to 35 Squadron personnel for completion. The aircraft was finally returned to the flight line months later but the damage to the centre wing section was never fully resolved. Air crews persevered with the troublesome aircraft for a few more months until the aircraft was returned to Australia for a complete overhaul in July 1968. Note that the men are all wearing light weight poplin overalls.