In the early hours of October 24, 1934, a DC-2 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines aeroplane encountered a dangerous storm.
Margaret Atchison remembers standing with her mother and three brothers on the balcony of their Albury home in southern NSW as the drama unfolded.
“We could hear the plane circulating looking for somewhere to land,” she said.
.Margaret Atchison remembers the rescue role her father had in the Uiver landing. (ABC News: Gaye Pattison)
The plane, known as the Uiver, had been competing in the MacRobertson Centenary Air Race from London to Melbourne.
On board were three passengers and four crew including First Officer Jan Moll and Captain Koene Parmentier.
The plane was running out of fuel and ice was forming on its wings.
Flying close to the Victorian Alps, the situation was grim.
The townsfolk of Albury and surrounding communities staged a rescue, coming together to help land the plane.
The council flashed the city lights on and off in morse code to spell out “Albury” and give the pilot a bearing out of the storms.
Local residents helped free the Uiver after it got stuck in mud during the London to Melbourne Air Race in 1934. (Supplied: Albury City)
Radio broadcast integral to rescue
Mrs Atchison’s father, local ABC announcer Arthur Newnham, interrupted radio programming.
Mr Newnham called on people with cars to form a makeshift runway at the Albury racecourse.
Mrs Atchison, 94, said it was a broadcast that almost cost him his job.
“My dad went to his ABC studio and got the technician to switch him over to air and dad broadcast to all the people of Albury,” she said.
She said he had been in the air force in England and had a lovely voice to listen to.
“You were not supposed to break into the main transmission,” she said.
Noel Jackling says the radio studio has since become the Albury Post Office. (ABC News: Gaye Pattison)
Uiver enthusiast Noel Jackling has been chronicling stories such as Mrs Atchison’s for years.
Mr Jackling’s father, Stan, was a friend of Arthur Newnham’s.
“Just before the Uiver reappeared in the clouds and was preparing to land, Arthur phoned Thomas Bearup, the Victorian Manager of the ABC to let him know of the situation,” he said.
Bearup had been contacted by race officials who accused the ABC of interfering with their race.
As a result, Bearup berated Arthur for breaking into radio 2CO which was transmitting radio 3AR Melbourne.
Newnham had taken a huge risk in breaking ABC protocol and knew that risk could be the loss of his job.
“Thankfully, he regarded saving an aeroplane and those on board as more important,” Mr Jackling said.
The Newnham children, Margaret at the front, and brothers John, Alan and Arthur. (Supplied)
Aeronautical history
Mr Jackling said Mrs Atchison could be the last person alive to have witnessed the plane in the sky.
“There were many families who went to the racecourse the next day to watch the plane being pulled from the mud to get back in the race for it to finish second,” he said.
Mrs Atchison said she still recalled the eventful night.
“It was an Albury legend and I grew up with that – went through school with that,” she said.
“Every Anzac Day there was always something spoken about it.”
She said her father didn’t talk about it with her family but she knew he and others involved knew what it meant to the people on board from the Netherlands.
“We had lots of mementos, the Dutch government did send various lovely things to all the people who helped,” she said.
Treasured souvenirs adorn Mrs Atchison’s home. (ABC News: Gaye Pattison)
The Netherlands Ambassador to Australia, Her Excellency Mrs Ardi Stoios-Braken, will launch an English translation of Parmentier’s 1935 book at the Uiver DC-2 Restoration Project hangar on Saturday.
Mrs Atchison said it was a time to remember the courage and role everyone played in the great Uiver rescue including her dad, who she said was her hero.
