PREMIUM CONTENT/QUARTERLY MAGAZINES/ISSUE #78

Prospective passengers queuing for a local flight in "Lismore" from the aircraft's home port, soon after the Stinson entered service. (J Hazzard)

Heroism in the Bush

The Joss in 1937 of New England Airways Stinson Airliner VH-UHH was to herald in an act of heroism that was a hallmark of the era. Adapted from our best selling book ‘Air Crash’, author Macarthur Job narrates the exciting story which really was a case of . . .

At Archerfield soon after midday on Friday, 19 February 1937, a moist, windy, overcast day with the threat of rain, two smartblue Stinsons stood wing tip to wing tip infront of the New England Airways hangar.

One had flown from Sydney that morning and the other,VH-UHH, Brisbane, which had arrived from Townsville,was being prepared for the afternoon service to Sydney via Lismore, departing at 1pm. There was a short delay. The weather was not good over the northern part of the route; a deep depression off the coast was producing cloudy conditions with widespread rain. However, the effects tended to be fairly localised and for VH-UHH’s Captain Rex Boyden, it gave no cause for concern in itself. His main problem was the scheduled call at Lismore. The company office there had told him by telephone that the aerodrome surface was affected by rain, and that the tops of the surrounding hills were in cloud.

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Heroism in the Bush