Cyclone Tracy
Ask & ye shall receive!
NB. All this below, originated from a query to me about who was first into Darwin after Cyclone Tracy.
The quote in the book I FLEW FOR MMA"(P. 257-9), about the first Jet in being an MMA F.28, was given to me by:-
A) Captain Rodney Kralert "whose Flight it was".
B) Probably by Captain S.J. (Syd) Goddard, probably at a Retired Pilots Meeting which I annotated as 13-7-1994, when I was still writing/researching the book.
I contacted Rodney on 19-3-2000, and he looked up his Log Book for me.
He states that it was his and Lindsay Allen’s rostered flight ex Perth to Darwin, Flight 1492, VH-FKB, which left early (usually 0600W), on the 26th December 1974. Obviously, in view of what was about to happen, Captain Goddard joined them, to make it a three crew flight, and therefore a longer duty period (14 hours instead of 11), and also, as Flight Manager, to oversee the whole operation and be able to plan further operations.
The whole flight took around five hours flying, but "we battled all day to get there, as we were stuffed about at Kununurra, awaiting permission from Canberra to enter the disaster area". They were then ordered to offload all the passengers FOR Darwin in Kununurra, as any more people entering would only make the situation worse. (Apparently some of them owned fishing boats there and were most irate at being denied entry).
"Lindsay and I were sorting out all the paperwork and Syd was ringing MMA in Perth and MMA was trying to ring Canberra, and we couldn’t get a decision.
And all of a sudden we got an order to leave all passengers in Kununurra. There was an enormous push not to bring any passengers into Darwin, unless they were Salvation Army - and those sort of people.
The passengers were pestering us, and I said, "Look, we are in the worst time of the year (Xmas Day + the Cyclonic weather), all the heads of Departments are away and the number two or three didn’t want to make a decision - would rather say no, than make a decision and put his foot in it. Just like all Govt. Departments".
After this delay, they finally arrived in Darwin as Flight 1492.
"We were definitely the first MMA Flight in". Rodney cannot remember seeing any other aeroplanes when they got there - probably overwhelmed by the damage to our beautiful Port - but remembers seeing other crews there when they were leaving.
"From Darwin, we went as passengers to Kununurra, with Captain Ray Brindley and F/O Alex Henry crewing the southbound flight, and Lindsay Allen and I got off there and Syd Goddard continued on, back to Perth".
(This was probably Flt. 1493 - even numbers Northbound and odd numbers Southbound - with the ‘1' signifying a Schedule change) and Goddard, the Flight Manager, went straight back to Perth to report the situation to MMA Operations and co-ordinate the future rescue missions.)
(Brindley and Henry are mentioned on Page 258 and 259 of "IFFMMA"!)
Rodney "had a free day in Kununurra, then on the 28th, we went Kununurra-Darwin, Flt. 492, then Darwin-Kununurra-Newman-Perth, Flight No. 493, VH-FKB, with another load. We were heavily loaded, so had to land at Newman to refuel. At Newman all the Mums with babies got off the aeroplane and washed their babies bums on the lawn in front of the terminal. The Newman women were very helpful to the evacuees and brought out nappies for the mothers". - ( so many people on one aeroplane would have severely taxed the facility of the one small on board toilet!).
So, It looks as though the first a/c arrived in Darwin on Boxing Day, as the Eye went over Darwin early on Xmas Day, news didn’t leak out for a while, and Major-General Stretton reached Darwin by VIP jet that night, after which he ordered the evacuation.
The regular flight ex Perth, at say, 0600 WST, went via Pt Hedland-Broome-Derby-Kununurra to Darwin and took around 5.05 flying time.
+ 20 minutes on the ground at each Port, 4 x 20min = 1.20 = say 6 hrs 30 minutes.
0600 departure + 6.30 = 1230 WST +add 1.30 time change = 1400 CST arrival Darwin.
So they were obviously much later than that due to the delays (as above), at Kununurra.
Re Of Captain Goddard - I contacted him recently (on 20-1- 2012) for his Log Book details.
Memory dim after some 37 years, but he did have the above details, such as crewing up with Rodney Kralert & Lindsay Allen in FKB on Flt 1492/3 with 5.00 hrs day and 4.55 night. (Perth - Darwin - Perth.)
He recalls that at Kununurra northbound "they were held on the ground for about two hours while they cleared the runway at Darwin before being given approval to proceed".
That's all he remembers!
Ansett historian Fred Niven, in his excellent DVD "Airlines & Aircraft of the Ansett Group 1921 - 2002, records:-
Quote:- Captain Harold Rowell. After Cyclone Tracy in 1974, he flew 96 passengers out of Darwin in a 60-seat Fokker F28 Mk.1000.
From 24 December, 1974, MacRobertson Miller Airline Services greatly assisted in the evacuation of Darwin, after Cyclone Tracy. One F28 carried 128 people, with most evacuation flights carrying around 80. MMA carried 1,250 people out of Darwin in 4 days. Unquote.
MMA's F.28s kept up a continuous shuttle to Kununurra, and Graham Hewitt with his F/O, Rob McMillan, went in on the 26th. He recalls that as all the Darwin Navaids were inoperative, they had to fly across from Kununurra to Katherine and then backtrack into Darwin on the Katherine navaids, also identifying the Darwin coastal area on the aircraft's radar. They had to let down through the continuing murk left over from the cyclone and broke visual at 800ft. He found thousands of people just milling around, totally confused, and realised it was a total crisis.
The evacuation was picking up speed and Graham took off with adults and children doubled up for a total of 115 people in a 60 seater, and 2000kgs overweight. "What amazed me" he relates, "was that the F.28 ripped off the ground just the same as always, flew like a dream and apart from adding a few knots to the bug speed at Kununurra, it handled no differently from normal". After slipping for the night at Kununurra, he took over an evacuee flight for Perth. Landing at Newman for fuel, he was amazed when "All the Ladies of Newman came out with cups of tea, coffee and sandwiches in the middle of the night - an unbelievable spread for these poor buggers who were still in a state of shock - they were absolutely marvellous".