AVIATION IN N.Z.

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27193, 10 November 1953, Page 7

AVIATION IN N.Z.

443 REGISTERED AIRCRAFT

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PROGRESS

Registered aircraft in New Zealand now total 443' including five flyingboats, one helicopter and 10 gliders compared with 219 including nine fly-ing-boats in 1947. This information is contained in the sixth edition of Whites Air Directory of New Zealand and the South Pacific, which was recently published.. “Fop those who have followed the development of avaiation since the war, this edition will confirm the general opinion that at long last there is some stabilisation in the industry and some real progress is being made,” says the managing editor of Whites Aviation (Mr L. L. White) in the • introduction to the directory. “The post-war years have been difficult, and it appeared at one stage that nationalisation, regulations and bureaucracy would be too much for the many who wished to make aviation a career or use it as an investment. It is well that this outlook has passed and aviation is more than a healthy infant?’ • Outlining notable events in New Zealand aviation history, the directory recalls the first free flight, in New Zealand, a balloon ascent in Christchurch by Professor Jackson. But the first powered flight in the country was made by Leo and Vivian Walsh at Auckland in a Tasman biplane, the parts having been imported from England. , From then progress has been rapid —flying schools under the Walsh brothers and Sir Henry Wigram trained pilots for the first world war; in 1915 the Walsh brothers flew their first flying-boat on Auckland narbour; in 1923 the New Zealand Permanent Air Force was formed; in 1928 Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith made his famous crossing of the Tafeman; in 1930 commercial aviation began to develop, and after that every year saw new achievements. , , There are 26 centres served by air in New Zealand an£ 80 aerodromes. Harewood airport is described as having full international facilities—two crossed sealed strips of 6600 ft and 5700 ft suitable for DC-68, Super Constellation, Stratocruiser, Vickers Valiant, etc. Navigational aids include lighting, location beacon, approach and centre line lights, runway lights and an illuminated landing direction indicator. . , By far the largest number of registered landplanes in New Zealand are Gipsy Majors, owned mostly by aero clubs, of which there are 25, and aerial topdressing companies. There are five registered marine aircraft, all Short Solents owned by Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd.- The only registered helicopter is a Bell Model 47D1, which has been allotted to B. G. Jardine, Kawarau Fall Station, Queenstown. However, an advertisement in the directory offers helicopters to New. Zealand on 60 days’ delivery. The number of airlines operating m New Zealand has tripled since 1947, when there were twb airlines and two charter companies. Now there are six airlines and 13 charter companies. In the same period the number of licensed commercial pilots has risen from 219 to 437.

Agricultural Work “For a food-producing country such as New Zealand, perhaps the biggest and most important milestone has been the development and acceptance of the aeroplane as an agricultural implement,” says Mr White in his introduction.

The directory shows that aircraft are being used for such operations as topdressing, seed-sowing, spraying, rabbit poisoning, freighting and hauling work, spotting stock and supply dropping, and patrol work for rural areas. In 1949 there were two companies engaged in such work, in 1950, 22 companies, and in 1953, 43 companies. The fighter-ground attack role of the Vampire and Mustang squadrons and the maritime reconnaissance and antisubmarine work of flying-boat squadrons are the two important operational roles of the Royal New Zealand Air ■Force, the directory says. A Vampire squadron is maintained on the island of Cyprus and a fiying-boat squadron is based on the Fiji islands and its aircraft range far over the Pacific Ocean on patrol, transport, mercy, and training work. Numbers 14 and 75 Squadrons each fly yampire fighter-bombers, while, numbers 1,2, 3 and 4 squadrons fly North American P5l Mustangs. Numbers 5 and 6 squadrons are 'each equipped with Consolidated Catalina flying-boats which are being replaced with completely re-equipped and modernised Short Sunderlands. Number 41 Squadron flies Bristol type 170 freighters for internal transport and Handley Page Hastings aircraft on regular courier flights to Europe, Britain and the Middle East. General communications and “V.LP.” transport is the work of No. 42 Squadron. Also included in the directory are a who’s who in New Zealand aviation; meteorological facilities, air traffic control facilities; aeronautical scholarships; air pageant trophies; and short biographies of the New Zealand air V.C.’s Second Lieutenant W. B. KhodesMoorhouse, Sergeant Pilot J. A. Ward, Flying Officer L. A. Trigg, and Squadron Leader L. H. Trent.

Full details are also given of the international air race—results of each section, the original list of entries, and members of the Canterbury Air Race Council.