Date:	Thursday 4 December 1997
Time:	overnight
Type:	de Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly
Owner/operator:	Uruguayan Air Force Museum (Museo Aeronautico)
Registration:	CX-AAR
MSN:	7532
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Ciudad de la Costa, Canelones, Montevideo -   Uruguay
Phase:	Standing
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	Ciudad de la Costa, Canelones, Montevideo, Uruguay
Destination airport:

Narrative:
c/no 7532 (Gipsy Major #8703/8705): To Alberto & Jorge Marquez Vaeza [founders of PLUNA], Uruguay with C of A 5665 issued 18.9.36. Shipped to Uruguay on the s.s "Avila Star"; arrived Montevideo 28.10.36. Registered as CX-AAR 31.10.36 to Primeras Lineas Uruguayas de Navegacion Aerea [PLUNA], Montevideo. She was baptized on 19.11.36 in Melilla by the Archbishop of Montevideo, Monsignor Aragone. She bore the name "Churrinche" at the request of the wife of the British Ambassador Sir Eugen Millington-Drake, inspired by the red color of the aircraft, very similar to the color of said bird. She made the second regular PLUNA flight, three days after the first.

Damaged in violent storm at Montevideo between 18 & 24.1.46. Withdrawn from use 12.1.52; stored in a hangar at Carrasco until donated to the Montevideo Aviation Museum

To Uruguayan Air Force Museum (Museo Aeronautico), Montevideo (by 7.4.1975 - see link #3). Possibly from 8.8.54 when the museum was founded. (There are references in one publication - see link #5 - that the Museum had this aircraft by/in 1955) Displayed as part of the Museum's collection until written off when destroyed by fire at Air Force Museum at Ciudad de la Costa, Canelones, Montevideo on 4.12.97

The Uruguayan Air Force Museum originated from an exhibition at Capitan Boiso Lanza Air Base, the museum was founded on 8.8.54 by Colonel (Av.) Jaime Meregalli. The museum was moved a number of times in its early years, first to Air Base No. 1 in Carrasco and shortly thereafter to the Cilindro Municipal in downtown Montevideo. It became the Colonel Jaime Meregalli Aeronautical Museum on 17 March 1993. On 4 December 1997, the museum suffered a fire which damaged a number of aircraft in the collection. Eventually, in 2013, it was moved to Carrasco International Airport.

1. https://air-britain.com/pdfs/production-lists/DH90.pdf
2. http://www.airhistory.org.uk/dh/p075.html
3. https://www.airhistory.net/photo/8396/CX-AAR {In compound at the Air Force Museum 7.4.75]
4. https://www.pluna.uy/flota-historica/ [Uruguayan text]
5. https://aeronavescx.blogspot.com/2021/11/a-85-anos-del-primer-vuelo-del.html [Urugayan text]
6. http://aerobernie.bplaced.net/Pluna.html
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Jaime_Meregalli_Aeronautical_Museum
8. Romero, Álvaro (22 March 2015). "Visitamos el nuevo Museo Aeronáutico del Uruguay"
9. https://www.fau.mil.uy/uploads/archivos/file_22551a288c.pdf [History of Uruguayan Air Force Museum]
10. http://modocharlie.com/2015/03/visitamos-el-nuevo-museo-aeronautico-del-uruguay/
11. Urugauayan Air Force Museum website: https://museo.fau.mil.uy/

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
14-Nov-2022 21:09	Dr. John Smith	Added
16-Nov-2022 17:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Narrative]
16-Nov-2022 17:38	Dr. John Smith	Updated [[Location, Departure airport, Narrative]]
16-Nov-2022 17:39	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Narrative]