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Uiver
Uiver was the name of the Douglas DC-2 airliner with registration PH-AJU operated by Dutch airline KLM. This innovative aluminum aircraft became famous in 1934, both in the Netherlands and internationally, for winning the handicap division of the London to Melbourne MacRobertson Air Race.
Later that year, the plane crashed on a special mail flight from the Netherlands to Batavia, killing all seven on board. A report blaming KLM director Albert Plesman and minister Jacob Kalff was reportedly suppressed in what became known as an "Doofpotaffaire" (cover-up affair).
KLM named its aircraft after birds corresponding to the last letter of the registration. For example, PH-AIP was Pelikaan (Pelican), and PH-AJA was Arend (Eagle). However, PH-AJU posed a problem—there were no bird names in standard Dutch beginning with "U" that hadn’t already been used. Someone then suggested "Uiver", the Betuwe dialect word for stork.
The first DC-2 ordered by KLM on 28 March 1934 was the Uiver. It was a DC-2-115A, the 18th DC-2 built by Douglas Aircraft Company in Santa Monica, California. After acceptance, the aircraft was flown by KLM Captain Koene Dirk Parmentier to New York on 22 August 1934, where it was partly disassembled and shipped aboard the S.S. Statendam to Rotterdam. On 13 September, the aircraft arrived in the Netherlands and was reassembled at Waalhaven Airport. Its first Dutch flight was on 19 September 1934, and it was christened "Uiver" on 28 September.
Its all-metal aluminum construction marked a technological leap, replacing the then-common wooden, linen-covered airframes. Impressed, KLM promptly ordered 14 more DC-2s, to be assembled by Fokker.
The Uiver gained international fame in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from Mildenhall (UK) to Melbourne (Australia), held from 20 to 24 October 1934. The crew comprised:
Three passengers were aboard: Pieter Gilissen, Roelof Domenie, and German pilot-journalist Thea Rasche.
During the 1934 race, on the last leg from Charleville, Queensland to Melbourne, Victoria the Uiver became lost in a huge storm and, at 1:20 am on the 24th of October, made a forced landing on the inner field of the racecourse (there being no airfield) at Albury, New South Wales. The ground was saturated from heavy rain and illuminated only by car headlights. Captain Parmentier was able to land the DC-2 safely although the Uiver was deeply bogged. The following morning Albury's townsfolk pulled the Uiver from the muddy ground and the aircraft, stripped of all excess weight, with only Parmentier and Mol aboard, was able to take off and finish the race in Melbourne.
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Uiver
Uiver was the name of the Douglas DC-2 airliner with registration PH-AJU operated by Dutch airline KLM. This innovative aluminum aircraft became famous in 1934, both in the Netherlands and internationally, for winning the handicap division of the London to Melbourne MacRobertson Air Race.
Later that year, the plane crashed on a special mail flight from the Netherlands to Batavia, killing all seven on board. A report blaming KLM director Albert Plesman and minister Jacob Kalff was reportedly suppressed in what became known as an "Doofpotaffaire" (cover-up affair).
KLM named its aircraft after birds corresponding to the last letter of the registration. For example, PH-AIP was Pelikaan (Pelican), and PH-AJA was Arend (Eagle). However, PH-AJU posed a problem—there were no bird names in standard Dutch beginning with "U" that hadn’t already been used. Someone then suggested "Uiver", the Betuwe dialect word for stork.
The first DC-2 ordered by KLM on 28 March 1934 was the Uiver. It was a DC-2-115A, the 18th DC-2 built by Douglas Aircraft Company in Santa Monica, California. After acceptance, the aircraft was flown by KLM Captain Koene Dirk Parmentier to New York on 22 August 1934, where it was partly disassembled and shipped aboard the S.S. Statendam to Rotterdam. On 13 September, the aircraft arrived in the Netherlands and was reassembled at Waalhaven Airport. Its first Dutch flight was on 19 September 1934, and it was christened "Uiver" on 28 September.
Its all-metal aluminum construction marked a technological leap, replacing the then-common wooden, linen-covered airframes. Impressed, KLM promptly ordered 14 more DC-2s, to be assembled by Fokker.
The Uiver gained international fame in the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from Mildenhall (UK) to Melbourne (Australia), held from 20 to 24 October 1934. The crew comprised:
Three passengers were aboard: Pieter Gilissen, Roelof Domenie, and German pilot-journalist Thea Rasche.
During the 1934 race, on the last leg from Charleville, Queensland to Melbourne, Victoria the Uiver became lost in a huge storm and, at 1:20 am on the 24th of October, made a forced landing on the inner field of the racecourse (there being no airfield) at Albury, New South Wales. The ground was saturated from heavy rain and illuminated only by car headlights. Captain Parmentier was able to land the DC-2 safely although the Uiver was deeply bogged. The following morning Albury's townsfolk pulled the Uiver from the muddy ground and the aircraft, stripped of all excess weight, with only Parmentier and Mol aboard, was able to take off and finish the race in Melbourne.
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