John Williams, Treasures of Nhill & District Facebook page 3 June 2025, Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times

In 1952, two members of the Wimmera Aero Club were off to a flying start to their marriage when an aerial wedding was staged over Nhill, followed by a reception in the hanger at the aerodrome.

The wedding was a club gift to Jeparit’s Norm Crittenden and his fiancée Barbara Mackenzie.

The wedding began 2000 feet over the aerodrome as 150 guests and onlookers stood on the tarmac looking up at a four-seater Fairchild 24 aircraft, in which the minister sat in front of the couple, giving them “a fatherly talking to”.

Escorting the “bridal” aircraft, piloted by Jack Williams, were six other light planes including a DH94 Moth Minor piloted by Jack Williams. Confused? I’ll explain that at the end of the story.

The bride, wearing a full gown of white Chantilly lace, with a small Juliet cap trimmed with orange blossoms, had stepped into the aircraft soon after arriving at the drome.

Barbara’s bridesmaid, Dorothy Batson, also dressed in a full gown of white Chantilly lace, with a matching bolero and Juliet cap, and carrying a bouquet of red roses, lilies and camellias, was accompanied by best man Don Eastick in a second plane, an Auster.

The two planes and the small Moth Minor took off at 3.40 accompanied by four Tiger Moths, which were in the air before the bride arrived, and flew in formation across the aerodrome and the Nhill township.

After passing over the drome four times the planes landed and formed a “red carpet” up to the door of the clubhouse where the minister, the Reverend R.M. Scholl of Jeparit, pronounced the couple “man and wife” with the signing of the register taking place inside.

It had been planned for the complete marriage to take place in the air but the couple couldn’t find an aircraft big enough to carry the witnesses.

An informal buffet reception was later held in the aerodrome hanger which was brightly decorated with flags, wattle, almond blossom and small gum trees.

The groom’s own plane, which was temporarily grounded, acted as the backdrop behind the decorated trestle tables with the centrepiece a wedding cake decorated with….drum roll….”an aeroplane”

The newly married couple quickly came down from the clouds with a “motoring” honeymoon.

The air wedding put Nhill well and truly on the map as it was reported in most newspapers around the country. However photos were only published in the capital city papers because the country press including the Nhill Free Press lacked the technology.

While the aviation themed wedding in Nhill was enterprising and the first such event in the Wimmera, the couple was not breaking new ground.

Back in 1926 a couple were married in the air over Melbourne and in 1932 an airborne wedding was celebrated over Sydney with some of the ceremony broadcast. Today aerial and hanger wedding packages offer new heights for that special day.

“Something old and Something new”

The reason Jack Williams was flying two planes during the wedding is simply explained: There were two of them. Very confusing at the time and still confusing for some aviation researchers.

The pilot and owner of the Fairchild wedding plane was F.J. (Jack) Williams, proprietor of Williams Motors in Nelson Street which he sold to Bullen Brothers in July 1953.

The pilot and owner of the Moth Minor was H.J. (Jack) Williams from H.E. Williams Farm Equipment directly opposite Williams Motors.

Both Jacks were Members of the Wimmera Aero Club with (F.J.) the first President.

(FJ’s) Fairchild was a replacement for a similar aircraft he crashed on take-off in Jack Dahlenburg’s paddock at Tarranginnie. (F.J,) a woman and her son were all injured and were lucky to survive the accident.

(F.J.) had once owned a Moth Minor similar to the plane flown by the other Jack in the wedding.

The other Jack, (H.J.), had bought his Moth Minor a few months before the wedding and would repaint the plane in the workshop of H.E. Williams where it was towed from the drome behind a tractor with the writer sitting up there in the cockpit like “Jacky”, piloting, the plane.

But (H.J) was forced to sell the Moth after becoming a victim of the Nhill polio epidemic. He was to recover and in 1955 would be in the air again with Jim Bullen flying Proctors from the UK.

Thank goodness the writer was only a “Jacky” for 30 minutes or it would have added to even more confusion.

See all the pictures in the issue.
This article appeared in Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times, 25 June 2025.