Otter 306 was one of three Otters donated by the Government of Canada to Indonesia under a Colombo Plan grant to assist developing countries. The three Otters were numbers 306, 309 and 315. Originally these Otters were to have been operated by the Indonesian Air Force under the supervision of the Ministry of Air Communications for civilian use, and Air Force serials T-204, T-205 and T-206 had been allocated. In the event, these were not used, and instead the Otters were registered PK-PHA, 'PHB and 'PHC. They were shipped to Indonesia in February 1960 and re- assembled on arrival in Jakarta, carrying their civilian registrations and Colombo Plan logos.
In September 1962, with a view to providing civilian air transport for West Irian, the Indonesian government formed PN Merpati Nusantara as a state-owned airline. The new airline's first equipment comprised two Douglas DC-3s and Otter T-202 (300), transferred from the Air Force, as well as Otters PK-PHA, 'PHB and 'PHC, all based at Biak. PK-PHA crashed on 25th September 1965 in West Java while operated by Merpati Nusantara and was destroyed.
Full history up to 2005 courtesy of Karl E Hayes © from DHC-3 Otter - A History (CD-ROM 2005)
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