MacROBERTSON Centenary Air Race Silver Medal for 'Uiver' (1934)

The London to Melbourne, MacROBERTSON Centenary air race 1934, silver medal created to honour the winning entry, the 'Uiver', 50 mm diameter and depicting the aeroplane, a Klm Douglas DC2 in flight over a map depicting the route (obverse) and with the names of the crew on the reverse. Quite common in bronze, this is the first example we have seen in silver., Winner of the handicap division, and second fastest with an airtime of 81 hours 10 minutes, was the Dutch airliner Uiver (stork). Crewed by Parmentier, Moll, Prins and van Brugge and carrying three passengers, the Douglas DC2 was entered by Klm airlines and showed that passenger air travel could be comfortable, safe and reliable. Uiver suffered a near disaster when the crew became lost in a storm over Albury, NSW. Residents, alerted by the local radio announcer, scrambled to bring their cars to the racecourse where rows of headlights guided the plane down to land. The next day it had to be dragged out of the mud to continue in the race to Melbourne.