Donn’s record Cyclone Tracy mercy flight

DONN Howe had been flying jumbo jets for just four months when the phone rang at his Sydney home on December 28, 1974.

Ex-Qantas pilot, Donn Howe, held the record for most people on a B747 with 674 evacuees on board during the Cyclone Tracy evacuations in the days following the disaster.

DONN Howe had been flying jumbo jets for just four months when the phone rang at his Sydney home on December 28, 1974.

“I got called in. I was on standby. I remember the first words, they just said ‘Darwin’s been flattened’.”

By early afternoon on the 28th, Mr Howe was flying an empty 747 to Darwin.

Long before today’s pinpoint-precise, satellite-guided navigation, the crew of three landed the jet at night. The strips of runway lights were the only lights left working in Darwin.

The next morning, the flight crew saw the destructive force of Tracy for the first time.

“When the sun came up, you could see the aircraft on the ground – they’d been tossed around like confetti,” Mr Howe said.

“There were Cessnas sitting nose-over-end.”

That day the plane would return to Sydney with 674 people on board, more than had ever crammed on to a plane before.

“It was a case of get on and hold on,” Mr Howe said.

“Every adult had a child on their lap.”

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“When we took off, I looked out over the city, like you always do, it had been completely destroyed, but mira-culously, you’d see the odd houses standing among the rubble, completely untouched.”

Nearly 40 years later, sitting in the cockpit of a Qantas plane on the tarmac in Darwin still brings back memories.

Despite racking up more than 26,000 hours of experience flying jumbo jets, Mr Howe said the evacuation flight from Darwin was the most memorable.

On Thursday, Qantas unveiled a plaque at their terminal, commemorating the record-breaking flight.

The memories are just as vivid for those on board, including Lydia Munro and Alan Drysdale, both of whom now work for Qantas in Darwin.

The two were among 4925 people (and one Siamese cat) who were evacuated from Darwin in three days.

Mr Drysdale, then six, was evacuated with his family and stayed with billets.

“I remember huddling in the car with Dad,” he said.

“When we ran downstairs the rain felt like nails driving into my skin.’’

Ms Munro, who was nine at the time, was evacuated to Geelong with her mother.

“Dad stayed behind in Darwin – he worked for the city council,” she said.

While neither of their parents have talked much about Tracy, Ms Munro’s memories of the evacuation are uncommonly upbeat. “As children it just seemed like a bit of an adventure,” she said.