Resourcefulness defeats Tragedy
What Kurt Johannsen lacked in formal education, he made up for in natural ability becoming famous for his resourcefulness, inventiveness and improvisation.
Kurt flew miners attempting to locate Lasseter’s’ reef in remote desert country west of Alice Springs. On take-off from a saltpan after refuelling, the Tiger Moth tipped on its nose breaking about 15 inches off each end of the propeller.
Drinking water was critical to survival. Using the propellor as a shovel he collected brine which he condensed using the now empty jerry cans – one with brine on the fire, another above on its ‘back’ collected the steam and the third alongside to catch the water. It produced 6 litres a day.
Not finding any suitable wood to carve a new propellor, Kurt trimmed it with a tomahawk, balancing it over a screwdriver. After stripping the plane of all excess weight, Kurt reattached the propellor testing it for balance as he taxied.
The first take-off attempt failed. Passenger, Jimmy, who had to stay behind scratched a message on the side of the plane saying where he could be found, just in-case it crashed on the way back.
Finally, there was a good breeze. Kurt tried again. The plane staggered into the air, the short propellor causing the engine to over-rev but he was airborne. With its straining engine, the semi-stalled plane clawed at the air just metres above the Mulga.
Noticing eagles soaring on a thermal Kurt flew over and was lifted to 80 or 100 metres, slowly rising to about 300 metres. He cautiously throttled back and maintaining height, got the plane back to base camp, about 200ks away.
Kurt drove from camp into Alice Springs, returning in another plane along with a spare propeller. The expedition returned safely to Alice Springs.
Submitted by Franca Frederiksen
