The MacRobertson Air Race got underway in spectacular fashion, with a pilot trying to take off but forgetting to release the brake.

Once in the air, things got only more confused, with emergency landings, crashes, and pilots getting arrested by Benito Mussolini’s men.

Soon the first planes would arrive in Australia, and the people of Albury would play a major role in saving one plane from disaster.

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Research

To research this I went through more aviation materials than I had ever thought possible. There are a heap of contemporary reports online and I had to dig deep to flesh out a lot of minor details, not all the reports line up.

The best book on the race is On a Wing and a Prayer: The Race that Stopped the World by Di Websdale-Morrissey and is a great account.

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