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There was a bombing range at Werribee just west of Melbourne, Australia that was well out of use when I first visited it in the seventies. At that time I was involved in helping a friend remove the remains of three Fairy Battles from the range. Not that there was much left of them.

Also on the range were two Staghounds the hulls of which were quite intact and at least one of which was still sitting on its axles minus wheels. Stags and Battles must have been natural targets on colonial ranges at the time.

In 1994 I was staying with Robert Gill just outside of Vienna in the village of Grossenzersdorf. (Spelling ?) Robert had a huge collection of HMVs and was in the process of acquiring a Staghound that had come off a range somewhere. He asked me if I knew where he could get a right hand rear spring and hanger brackets for it as they had been blown off and lost or destroyed. I remembered the Werribee targets and said 'lend me your phone and I'll find out".

I spoke to a fellow I knew back home who would know if the Stags were still there and was informed that they were. Some time after my return I made arrangements with the people who were farming the area to go down and remove the wanted parts which I then air freighted to Vienna on Lauda Air as requested.

I never heard any more from Robert and have wondered ever since what became of the spring and hanger brackets and the vehicle they were destined for. In the intervening years I did hear of somebody with a Stag in Europe that was in need of a rear spring and attaching parts. Another coincidence?

David