Breath-taking look at earlier aviation

Press, 5 August 1983, Page 9

Breath-taking look at earlier aviation

By

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor

Of all forms of transportation, none has advanced so spectacularly in such a relatively short time as aviation.

Internationally, comfortable wide-bodied jets now fly the Pacific non-stop between Australia and California in 13 hours. The sleek super-sonic Concorde ' crosses the Atlantic daily at speeds faster than a bullet in just over three hours. Back home, Air New Zeaf “pod's nifty Boeing 737 s aave reduced the gap between Auckland and Dunedin to a total flight time of a mere 95 minutes, and with only one stop along the way. Forty years ago, though, it was a vastly different story. In those embryonic days of commercial aviation, a flight from Auckland to Dunedin was an all-day affair.

Apparently, it was also a thrilling experience. Those of you who can remember the picture cards at the bottom of cereal packets in the 1940’s will also recall the “Wonder Books” into which they were ultimately carefully pasted.

One, the “Wonder Book of Modem Aircraft” (produced circa 1942), was recently uncovered at the bottom of a chest of treasures by a Christchurch woman. It included a breath-taking account of a reporter’s sevenhour journey from Auckland to Dunedin in a Union Airways twin-engined, 12 seat, Lockheed Electra.

“From the moment the airways travel ticket is obtained, when you are weighed and told that you may take ,-351 b of luggage free of charge, the experience is one big thrill,” the article begins.

The writer boarded the "shining and powerful” Lockheed monoplane in front of the hangar at Mangere aerodrome, and prepared for- the 8 a.m. departure. New Plymouth was the first stop, but during the flight the reporter noted that the co-pilot unwound a trailing aerial “to allow radio communication with distant land stations that are continually advised of the approximate height, course, and speed at which our machine is flying.” From New Plymouth the flight continued to Palmerston North. “We are due to

land in a few moments so the trailing aerial is wound in and the flaps on the trailing edge of the wings are let down preparatory to landing. These flaps act as an air brake which enables the machine to glide into confined spaces easily,” the article continues. “Milson Airport at Palmerston North is the ground headquarters of Union Airways and here they have the finest work-

shops to be found on any civil aerodrome in the British Empire...” After 15 minutes on the ground, the “warning bell” had passengers boarding again for the next leg of the flight - to Wellington: “The .grandest view of all beckons us ahead. The hills slip away and there is a vista worth a hundred air trips. We view in a wide panorama of Port Nicholson Harbour... and are soon

landing at the Dominion’s busiest airport — Rongotai Aerodrome.”

Three hours after leaving Auckland, the Lockheed headed across Cook Strait for its fourth landing en route to Dunedin. It landed on the “smooth surfaced” Blenheim Aerodrome and, after a brief stop for mails and freight, headed south to Christchurch.

The reporter describes the view along the Kaikoura coast, the vast plantations inland around Hanmer, and the “thousands of Seres of Canterbury sheep-lands” as his plane comes in to land on “Hareward (sic) Aerodrome, one of the Dominion’s newest air fields.”

The last leg of the long journey now lay ahead,

notes the reporter, “with no hills to climb over.”

“We speed over Timaru with its fine Caroline Bay and sandy beaches; we see the power pylons coming from the Waitaki hydroelectric works; the bleached white town of Oamaru; and Moeraki Point with its big light-house which is a guide for mariners and aviators alike...

“It is just on 3 p.m. as we alight from the Lockheed — only seven hours after leaving Auckland. Another luxurious motor-coach is waiting at the aerodrome to transport everybody to the city. It is journey’s end for us, but not for the silver Lockheed. The efficient machine commences the return journey on the morrow.”