For a magazine, the cover photo is surprisingly important to the success of the edition. Designers say the cover has to entice the person glancing through the newsagent shelves to pick up the magazine. In February 1963, a new magazine appeared in newsagencies, with the masthead Australian Flying – Light Aircraft Monthly. The cover image selected by editor Stanley Brogden was of Beechcraft 23 Musketeer VH-DHM.
The Musketeer had just been released, so the image was attention-grabbing. A potential reader picking up the magazine could then find an “Exclusive Evaluation Story” by Peter Brown on page 12.
Sixty years later, Musketeers are still flying, although the cover aircraft didn’t survive the passage of time. The DHM registration was significant, as the sales agent in Australia was the de Havilland Australian (DHA) company. In the early 1960s, flying schools were still using Tiger Moths and Chipmunks, and modern metal American aircraft were being promoted for fleet replacement.
Exclusive review
Peter Brown completed a very thorough flight review of the then brand-new Musketeer in that very first Australian Flying. He was over-qualified to write such an article: he was a flight instructor, had won a DFC in World War II, was a director of Kingsford Smith Aviation Service at Bankstown, and was a test pilot.
It would seem disrespectful to try to emulate such a reviewFirst impressions always being important, a walk-around inspection of this neat four-place low-wing tricycle with fixed gear, reveals the same fine workmanship and solid construction that characterises all Beech products. Here of course the resemblance ceases and the Musketeer is a radical departure from the Bonanza-Debonair line in looks, layout and construction.
