ALBURY’S DC2 plane is more than a memorial to the KLM Uiver, it is a rare survivor of US fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker’s “Great Silver Fleet” of the 1930s.
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Cr Neville Hull, whose motion to retain the plane in Albury was passed in the council works committee this week, says more research needs to be done into the plane’s history.
This could be incorporated in displays when the plane is moved at the airport next year if his motion is confirmed by the council on December 22.
Cr Hull was countering criticism the DC2 restored by Rotarians in 1979 was not the KLM plane that landed in Albury in the Melbourne Centenary Air Race in 1934.
Cr Hull said the plane bought by Rotarians in 1979 and repainted as the Uiver had been grounded after World War II, when it was part of the RAAF’s wartime transport fleet.
But it had started life in 1934 as one of the Eastern Air Lines batch of DC2s known as the Great Silver Fleet.
He told the council on Monday the relocation could be carried out for $50,000 with the need to spend 10 times that on a professional restoration.
This idea did not rule out a restoration if funds became available.
“It’s impossible for the council to find $500,000 and displaying it (as it is) is the best option,” he said yesterday.
Cr Hull said he received messages of support for his move to retain the DC2 by preserving it.
