Minister Dick Roche speaks at emotional Dublin launch

PRESS RELEASE
June 1st 2005

Almost 60 years after their plane crashed in the Wicklow mountains, surviving passengers and rescuers gathered to celebrate the launch of a new book in Dublin city center last night. Documenting the sensational events of August 12th 1946, When Our Plane Hit the Mountain is the first full account of this dramatic true-life story.

Monday 12 August 1946: twenty-one excited French Girl Guides arrive at Le Bourget Airport in Paris en route to a holiday camp in Ireland. Laughing and giggling in the early morning sun, they board an aircraft bound for Dublin. Later that day, in one of the worst storms of the year, their plane goes down in the Dublin mountains.

Author Suzanne Barnes has written the first full acount of those dramatic days.

Launching the book, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Dick Roche T.D. said: "When I was approched by Suzanne to launch her excellent book /When Our Plane Hit the Mountain/, I was fascinated." Minister Roche paid particular tribute to the book and author, saying that Suzanne Barnes had "brilliantly described the events that day on Djouce Mountain. Fighting to control their aircraft in a raging storm, the crew of a JU-52 of the French Air Force were forced to make a crash landing on a lonely mountain top."

The Minister related the dramatic events surrounding the mountain rescue, going on to say "I know that nearly 60 years later the Dublin/Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team is still rescuing people who get lost in the mountains. Tonight I would like to pay tribute to the Rescue team, the Gardai, Civil Defence and the Irish Coastguard Helicopter who do a superb job."

A group of the surviving passengers joined the Minister at Hughes & Hughes bookshop for the emotional reunion. Micheline Huré, Lilette Lemoine, Catherine Bertier, Agnés Vallin, rescuers Pa Brennan and Paul Rowan, International Girl Guides Chief Commissioner Jillian van Turnhout, and Patrick Thomas, Cultural attache at the French Embassy, all turned out to celebrate the launch of When Our Plane Hit the Mountain.

When Our Plane Hit the Mountain by Suzanne Barnes, New Island, €13.99

FULL SPEECH OF THE Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Dick Roche T.D

In my profession you do not get much chance to relax and unwind but I occasionally get the chance to watch a bit of telly. Flicking with my remote control a couple of weeks ago I came across a new US TV show called ‘Lost’.

For the uninitiated the plot centres around a group of airline passengers who survive a plane crash and find themselves on a deserted Pacific island. But apparently, this isn't just any island. It has a certain magical quality about it. And though it appears to be deserted, it is clearly not.

Anyone familiar with Hawaii could have told them immediately that they were on the island of Oahu and more specifically somewhere in Kaaawa Valley region, not all that far away from civilisation, some hot showers and refreshing shave ice. But then again, why spoil the fun? They're supposed to be lost, after all.
The show has such a powerful pull, and people, in some way, want to be a part of it. It's sort of like the connection The Lord Of The Rings has with New Zealand. It's shot in a very intriguing, mysterious place that piques everyone's interest. Honoloulou Tourism has fielded numerous inquiries about the series and, along with the Oahu Visitors Bureau, is planning a web link to help tourists get Lost while they're visiting Hawaii.
So when I was approched by Suzanne to launch her excellent book ‘When our plane hit the mountain’, I was fascinated.What happened in August 1946 on Djouce mountain was not Hollywood there was no special effects, this was reality.However Wicklow has much in common with Hawaii, it is a land of majestic mountains and spectacular valleys.
When inevitably some TV or film production company approach Suzanne to bring her brilliant story to screen, I hope like in Honolulu more people are attracted to the excellent tourism facilities, which exist around Djouce Mountain.
The Wicklow Way was the Republic's first signposted walking route, and rightly so, for it is one of particular beauty.
Djouce Mountain is the 91st highest summit in Ireland. Suzanne has brilliantly described the events that day on Djouce Mountain. Fighting to control their aircraft in a raging storm, the crew of a JU-52 of the French Air Force were forced to make a crash landing on a lonely mountain top.
The JU-52 plane had taken off from Le Bourget airport in Paris shortly before 9.am on Monday 12th August 1946. The 4 crew & the plane had been charted to fly 23 French Girl Guides to Ireland for a camping holiday, and though weather conditions were good when the aircraft took off, they were to rapidly deteriorate along the way, in fact on entering the North Atlantic soon after crossing the Channel, storms were building up around Ireland, with lashing rain and 50 mph winds, houses had been flooded and yachts torn from their moorings in the bays.

The aircraft and its 27 occupants should have arrived at the airfield of Collinstown, near Dublin at noon, but due to the hostile elements had got lost in cloud and unbeknown to the airport, the JU-52 had crash-landed at 1,800ft at a little after 1.30pm, Though some of the passengers and crew were injured, all had somehow managed to survive, and the aircraft was more or less intact allowing at least some shelter from the storm.

Whilst the pilot and one of the girls set off in one direction to find help, another girl Chantal de Vitay made her way down another way and eventually raised the alarm at the Mount Maulin Hotel, five miles from Enniskerry, and a contingent of Civic Guard and local fire brigade made their way to the scene to get the others down.

All were eventually rescued, and although some received very bad injuries, which left scars for life, all, survived.

I have seen pictures from the Irish Times of August 1946, which show pictures of the JU-52 on the mountain the day after the crash. I noted that all 3 engines had been ripped from their mountings, which fortunately prevented any fire breaking out.

There were also pictures of Navigator Michel Jaurret being offered a cigarette by Captain Christian Habez the pilot, and the French Girl Guide leaders recovering from their accident. St.Michael’s hospital, Dun Laoghaire.
I know that nearly 60 years later the Dublin/Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team is still rescuing people who get lost in the mountains.

Tonight I would like to pay tribute to the Rescue team, the Gardai, Civil Defence and the Irish Coastguard Helicopter who do a superb job.

Finally I would like to pay tribute to Suzanne and New Island books. This is a marvellously researched book tracing the history of an epic story of courage and survival. I have no doubt that it will be a great success.

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