Pilot Harry Hartwig with the Auster Autocar at Asaroka, New Guinea (credit: MAF Archive)

74 years ago on 6 August 1951, Edwin ‘Harry’ Hartwig – MAF’s first pilot in New Guinea – tragically dies in a plane crash over the Asaroka Gap. Despite its brutal beginnings, MAF PNG grows into the charity’s biggest programme. MAF’s Janne Rytkonen talks to Harry’s 97-year-old widow Margaret Baldock about his incredible legacy…

As we continue celebrating the birth of MAF 80 years ago, we pay tribute to the late Edwin ‘Harry’ Hartwig, the Australian Christian wartime pilot and captain who co-founded MAF in Australia in 1947 and Papua New Guinea in 1951.

Out of the ashes of World War 2, similarly to his Christian comrades in Britain and America at the time, Harry – a former B24 Liberator bomber captain for RAF Coastal Command – seeks to use his aviation skills to support the most isolated people in the Pacific.

WW2 war veteran Harry in his Royal Australian Air Force uniform (credit: MAF Archive)

Harry (centre back) – B24 Liberator captain, RAF Coastal Command (credit: MAF Archive)

After the war, Harry meets other like-minded war veterans at the Melbourne Bible Institute in 1946.

They seek affiliation with MAF UK and MAF US, which leads to the birth of Mission Aviation Fellowship in Australia, but where should they be based and which areas would benefit most from their new ministry?

By 1949, they procure a Tiger Moth aircraft crewed by pilot Harry and engineer Alex Freind, which they use to survey the needs of remote communities, missionaries and cattle stations in northern Australia.

On Elcho Island off the coast of Arnhem Land, they meet pilot Rev Harold ‘Sheppy’ Shepherdson who had been serving the Yolngu – an indigenous Aboriginal tribe – since 1928.

This first meeting eventually paves the way for MAF to inherit Sheppy’s aviation ministry when he retires. MAF Arnhem Land would launch in 1973.

Tragedy strikes

Back in Melbourne, Harry and the team decide to undertake a survey of then New Guinea (now Papua New Guinea) which concludes the needs are great.

They set up base in Madang on PNG’s north coast. Harry, his wife Margaret and their eight-month-old daughter Beth, move from Melbourne to Madang in April 1951.

Lutheran Mission buy MAF’s first plane in New Guinea (credit: MAF Archive)

It transpires that the Lutheran Mission – also based in Madang – will be MAF’s most frequent flyer in PNG, so they agree to buy MAF an Auster Autocar aircraft, which is piloted by Harry.

MAF begins operating in PNG in May 1951.

In the first three months, Harry clocks up nearly 300 hours of flying but on 6 August 1951, tragedy strikes. Margaret, takes up the story:

‘All our things were still packed up in crates from Melbourne, so I spent the day unpacking everything, making up the beds and getting everything ready. And of course, Harry didn’t come home.’

Margaret Baldock, widow of MAF co-founder, Harry Hartwig

97-year-old Margaret Baldock with a picture of her first husband (credit: Janne Rytkonen)

Just three months after MAF launches in Papua New Guinea, Margaret is widowed at the age of 24.

After flying a missionary and two local men to Asaroka, north of Goroka in the Eastern Highlands, Harry was due to fly freight back to base in Madang, but Harry and the Auster Autocar never made it back.

It transpires that a New Guinean schoolteacher near the Asaroka Gap had seen the aircraft circling in and out of the clouds before hearing it crash into the mountainside.

One-and-a-half days later, Harry’s body and the plane are found 300 feet below the Asaroka Gap.

Chillingly beforehand, Harry had written this report:

‘A local knowledge of the weather and topography are essential, and familiarisation flights will be of great value in this respect.’

A deadly mix of low cloud, rugged terrain and an unsuitable aircraft for the environment, had claimed Harry’s life at the age of 35. MAF PNG’s only pilot and its only aircraft were tragically lost.

Within a week of the accident, Margaret had packed her bags to return to Australia with one-year-old Beth:

‘I won’t forget that day. I couldn’t believe what God had done. It’s still hard, but it happened.’

Harry’s death was not in vain

The Auster Autocar aircraft model had proved its ruggedness and suitability as a bush plane during World War 2. However, as Harry and MAF tragically found out, flying in the hot and high conditions of New Guinea would ultimately require more power.

Shortly before Harry’s death, Auster announced that it would be upgrading its engine, which would be more conducive to flying in tropical conditions. Harry was determined to procure one at the earliest opportunity.

Sadly, the aircraft upgrade was not available before Harry attempted to fly over the Asaroka Gap.

The late Stuart King – co-founder of MAF UK – summed up Harry’s plight:

‘The aircraft was unable to produce sufficient reserves of power at high altitude.’

P2-AFD is MAF’s newest Cessna 208 Caravan in Papua New Guinea (credit: Mandy Glass)

Instead of giving up, the sacrifice and devastating loss of Harry would pave the way for MAF to operate a more rugged and reliable type of aircraft – Cessna, which the charity still uses today.

MAF resumed its operations in New Guinea in 1952 with a Cessna 170 piloted by Charlie Mellis.

As more missions became aware of MAF’s impact, demand increased, and more bases sprung up around the country.

Last year, MAF PNG flew over 31,000 passengers and 1.5K of cargo (credit: Mandy Glass)

Despite the devasting loss of its only pilot and its only aircraft in the early years, Papua New Guinea is now MAF’s biggest programme, boasting 11 aircraft and 164 staff.

In 2024 alone, MAF flew over 31,000 passengers and 1.5K of cargo, clocking up more than 5,000 flight hours.

74 years later, MAF is PNG’s longest serving air service. Today, every MAF plane in the country is a Cessna and 76% of MAF’s global fleet are Cessnas too.

On MAF PNG’s 50th, Harry was honoured on PNG postage stamps (credit: MAF Archive)

Margaret visits MAF’s base in Mareeba, Australia in April 2025 (credit: Janne Rytkonen)

Margaret, who has since remarried and has had more children, reflects on how MAF has flourished in PNG, despite its brutal beginnings:

‘I couldn’t see how MAF could ever start up again but now I’m older, I’ve realised it was God’s work anyway.

‘He looked after it and cared for it, and I think it was partly because of the accident that He raised up many young people who became interested in MAF.’

In spite of her first husband’s terrible accident, Margaret is still a staunch supporter of MAF.

Earlier this year she paid MAF’s Mareeba base a visit – her first trip to Far North Queensland in 73 years.

MAF’s Mareeba base is a maintenance hub for Asia Pacific (credit: Janne Rytkonen)

MAF’s Australian flight training centre is also based in Mareeba (credit: Janne Rytkonen)

MAF’s Mareeba operation is home to nine aircraft, MAF’s maintenance hub for Asia Pacific, and MAF’s Flight Training Centre in Australia.

Despite Margaret’s devastating heartbreak over Harry and MAF’s major loss at the time, Margaret is in awe of how much MAF has grown in 80 years:

‘It’s a miracle, when you think of how much a little plane costs! It’s just amazing to think how we started off with nothing and God just provided everything!

‘I’ve seen MAF expand into other countries and help so many people. That’s a big benefit, isn’t it? How many people have been saved because of MAF? I praise God for what he has done.’

Margaret Baldock, widow of MAF co-founder, Harry Hartwig

Harry tops Pilot Honour Roll at MAF’s PNG base in Mount Hagen (credit: WD Kretschmer)

The pilot memorial at MAF PNG’s base at Mount Hagen (credit: WD Kretschmer)