The 12th of August marks the anniversary of a miraculous excape for a troupe of French girlguides.
They travelled from Paris Le Bourget to Dublin to spend some times with their Irish counterparts but fate intervened and the aircraft, a Junckers JU52 tri-motor got lost en route and crashed in the Dublin/Wicklow mountains. Miraculously no one of the 30 passengers and crew were killed. An article written and published in the Wicklow Times to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the crash in 1996 developed quite a lot of interest locally and eventually led to an emotional re-union of the survivors in Wicklow. The event also led to a book ‘When our plane hit the mountain’ by Suzanne Barnes relating the whole interesting tale of amazing survival.Djouce 05 DioghaisB djouce mountain[1]French
About bill
Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer.
The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013.
Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI.
Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug
2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website.
But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien.
The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50.
Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea.
Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
Tellement interressent!
2011 marks the 65th anniversary of the crash and we will be meeting at the site on Djouce on 14th August (c1pm) to raise a toast to all the French survivors – many of whom are still alive.
Hi Suzanne,
I have three copies of your book! and have not read it completely…even though I purchased it last year after much searching around Dublin. My interest in your book came from a conversation with my mother last year. My mother is now 82 and is a proud army widow. I did not know the story of the crash in 1946 nor of my father’s involvement until last year. My father died in 2002 at the age of 81. As far as I can gather, my father was invited to the launch of your book, but I was unaware (being the youngest of 5 children) of this. My brother told me about it last year after my mother told the story. My Dad (Liam Harbison) was in the army and was part of the rescue mission on the mountain, part of the human chain. I was so delighted that you wrote the book. I had been on Djouce many year’s ago with a group of students, unware of its signficance, unaware of this story. I have since joined a hillwalking group and I will visit Djouce and hopefully get to the point of the crash site. I would like to visit it on the anniversary of the crash next year, perhaps with my brothers and sister and raise a toast to my Dad who was a lovely lovely man! He was shy and never boasted about his achievements in life….a true gentleman. Thank you, thank you Suzanne for writing your story, it is part of my memories of my father, one that I will treasure forever. Thank you. Madeleine Harbison
i live a cupla miles from djouce.really interesting story that im doing a project on….using some photos i hope to locate the exact position
Hello Suzanne,
We have been trying to establish contact with you for some time. Many of our members have a great interest in the Djouce crash, with stories of the event and its consequences (some personal memories,others inherited). Your book is now available in Bray but until recently has been regarded by me as a “find” in Dublin bookshops – I have bought copies intermittently over the years for friends.
Several of our (fitter) members are interested in an anniversary (66th) walk up Djouce on, or close to, August 12th this year. Are you ,or is anyone, organising one this year? I can be contacted by email or through the present owner of the old hotel.
Dear Norman or Colin?
I’ve replied by e-mail.
Rgds
Bill
My uncle now aged 83 years told me recently that as a young man working on turf cutting at Sally Gap west of Djouce mountain,he and others from the Roundwood area helped carry down injured passengers to the Sally Gap road.
Dear Michael,
Thankyou for the information about your uncle. Could I possibly talk to him?
I live in Blackrock, Co. Dublin.
Many thanks
Bill Nelson
My father, Rory Henderson was the Dublin Co. Divisional Director of the Irish Red Cross. I have some relevant correspondence and, rather than write in detail about the event, include a brief extract from one letter, as follows: ” . . . . When all were so efficient it would be invidious to single out any individual but I think I should make special mention of Mr. Rory Henderson. Mr. Henderson organised the Red Cross personnel at the initial assembly point, issued all with badly wanted electric torches, personally ascended the mountain with me and again organised the Red Cross personnel at the scene of the crash so that stretcher cases could be evacuated . . . . (Signed) Aodh MacNeill, Major General
I am virtually certain that I saw this plane make its landfall in Ireland. I was on holidays aged 13 in Poulshone, S of Courttown, filthy weather, low cloudbase. A plane came in very low, from the east and turned north as soon as it was over land. We heard later of the crashi
Hello L.
That would make sense, as the aircraft was apparently lost and tracked over the mountains in low cloud. The weather, as you say was awful. Although it was 12th Aug a storm like hurricane Charlie, came in across the mountains and Dublin bay wreaking havoc. Miraculously no one was killed in the crash, but the party of three who left the crash site were nearly drowned before they even got to the Maulin Hotel to raise the alarm. Thanks for your observation. I’ve upload it to the website.
Best regards
Bill.
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