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“Big Round Engines” and other classic aviation topics...

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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« on: May 24, 2009, 01:32:03 am »


Flying on a wing and a pint

By TANYA KATTERNS - The Dominion Post | Saturday, 23 May 2009

NOT FOR THE TIMID: More than 150 agriculture pilots have been killed since aerial topdressing began in the 1950s. — ANDREW GORRIE/The Dominion Post. HIGH FLYING: “It's not a job for the faint-hearted ... But in those days, ‘the heydays’ I call them, the risks were high but the thrills were even greater,” says veteran topdresser pilot Clive Thorne. — TANYA KATTERNS/The Dominion Post.

NOT FOR THE TIMID: More than 150 agriculture pilots have been killed since aerial topdressing
began in the 1950s (left). — ANDREW GORRIE/The Dominion Post. | HIGH FLYING: “It's not a
job for the faint-hearted ... But in those days, ‘the heydays’ I call them, the risks were high
but the thrills were even greater,” says veteran topdresser pilot Clive Thorne (right).
 — TANYA KATTERNS/The Dominion Post.


Topdressing pilots are known as the cowboys of the skies. Their risk-taking fraternity has notched up a frightening death toll over the years, going daily where other pilots dare not.

Clive Thorne considers himself one of the lucky ones. He and his brother would finish a day's topdressing work, "tail chase" each other through narrow gullies, and land outside the local pub for a few pints. They would then fly home "usually pretty under the weather".

Old photos throughout his Masterton home depict lost friends, men whose lives ended on hair-raising terrain doing a job that has kept the agriculture industry on its feet.

The toll is high for a peace-time operation. With more than 150 agriculture pilots killed since aerial topdressing began in the early 1950s, it is considered one of the country's most dangerous professions.

"I have lost quite a lot of very good friends ... One night I was drinking with mates and said to one, `You never know who the next one is going to be but it could be one of us.' The mate I said that to got killed the next morning."

He is among hundreds of aviation enthusiasts gathering this weekend in Wairarapa to celebrate the 60th anniversary of topdressing in New Zealand, and at age 81, one of the last pioneers still alive to reflect on the industry's heyday.

"It's not a job for the faint-hearted. It's as dangerous as you want to make it. But in those days, `the heydays' I call them, the risks were high but the thrills were even greater."

He was a topdresser for 17 years and spent 40 years as a pilot. There were plenty of near misses. He crash-landed in a paddock after suffering engine failure in 1954 and spent a month in hospital.

He and his twin Colin, who died in 1991, were there from the start, working over the years for two aeroworks companies and earning £750 a year.

In 1951, topdressing trials had been completed and the aviation agriculture industry born out of a surplus of aircraft post-war and returning servicemen was in its infancy.

The 1950s wool boom, triggered by the demand for warm uniforms for troops serving in the bitter cold of the Korean War, provided farmers with surplus capital that they spent on fertiliser and other improvements.

"It was Tiger Moths then. The daddy of the lot. Pure fun flying and they did the job all right. But a job is a job and once it was done, there was some crazy stuff all right."

There were limited rules and regulations. Everyone was new to the demanding industry so there were no teachers, just young pilots learning the ropes.

"Colin and I, we worked together and played together, would finish up a day and tail chase each other ducking and diving through gullies and touching tree lines while practising aerobatics and barrel rolls. They were pretty low-powered aircraft so gully riding was the only way to fly in some pretty hairy conditions."

Ad Feedback The winds, unpredictable and often fierce, were difficult to read. With no modern-day GPS or monitoring systems, fires were used to gauge wind direction from gnarly and rugged hillside airstrips. Farmers got a little antsy about fire risks over the dry season so a portable wind sock was fashioned out of nappies. "It was all pretty crude stuff then but it worked. We did like the mischief as well.

"If we were a bit thirsty we would land in a paddock near a pub and have a few beers before getting back in the plane usually pretty under the weather and flying back home."

This weekend, the diamond anniversary of the industry, will bring more tales of old as the young guns of today sit alongside early pioneers to swap stories.

"These young fellas and their fancy high-powered aircraft have no idea really what it was like back then. We were cowboys, and you know what? I would not have changed it for a thing."


—————————————————————————

SKY FARMING

• On September 20, 1948, the first hopper of a Grumman Avenger was filled with a tonne of superphosphate for a ground load test. Five days later it had its first test flight over Ohakea Air Force Base. Trials continued through till 1949 and the topdressing industry had kicked off by early 1950.

• The advent of aerial agriculture vastly improved the country's productivity and helped solve serious erosion problems.

• By 1958 there were 73 aerial topdressing firms flying 279 aircraft. Aerial topdressing peaked in the mid-1960s.

• Aircraft adapted for topdressing included Tiger Moths, twin-engined Bristol Freighters, Lockheed Lodestars and DC3s, De Havilland Beavers, Cessnas and New Zealand-built Fletchers.

• More than 150 topdressing pilots have died since the industry began in 1950. It is considered one of the country's most dangerous professions.

• Following the most recent deaths of topdressing pilots, in which pilot fatigue has been blamed, the Civil Aviation Authority has adopted new rules for agriculture operations to improve safety.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/central-north-island/2434291/Flying-on-a-wing-and-a-pint
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