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Post by Dave Homewood on May 17, 2023 20:56:07 GMT 12
One of the well known names of the pre-WWII NZPAF and RNZAF was William Dini, and this is his obituary from the Press, 15th of January 1980.
Early Air Force member dies
One of the first members of New Zealand’s Air Force, Mr William Simmons Dini, has died in Christchurch. He was. 72. Mr Dini joined what was then the New Zealand Permanent Air Force as an apprentice mechanic, a year after it was founded in 1923. He serviced Sir Charles Kingsford Smith’s Fokker Trimotor after its historic first flight across the Tasman. In the early 1930 s he built a Heath Parasol aircraft which became the first home-built aircraft in New Zealand to gain a full certificate of airworthiness. Later he worked for the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty Aero Club as an engineer, and also served, with Queenstown and Mount Cook Air Services — forerunner of the Mount Cook Group.
During the early years of the Second World War, Mr Dini worked with the De Havilland Company at Rongotai. Later he joined Air Travel (N.Z.), Ltd and was based on the West Coast. In 1946 he left the world of aviation, to which he never returned professionally. Mr Dini later became well known in Christchurch as owner of the Antigua Street boatshed, which he ran for many years. He joined the Aviation Historical Society in its early years and became its second president, serving from 1959 to 1976. He was also interested in photography, and was known for his restoration of old photographs. He is survived by his wife, son and daughter.
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Post by camtech on May 17, 2023 21:30:27 GMT 12
I worked for Bill at the Antigua Boatsheds for a while back in 1962-64 as a weekend and holiday job. His aviation background was never raised while I knew him. He had his phonograph collection upstairs at the boatsheds, where we also built fibre glass canoes. He was a tough businessman, not letting anything past him, but still had a good sense of humour.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 17, 2023 21:34:29 GMT 12
I wonder if he had many aviation photos from the 1930s and 40s?
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Post by camtech on May 17, 2023 21:35:46 GMT 12
Can't recall seeing any upstairs, but it was so cluttered it was hard to move around.
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Post by davidd on May 22, 2023 9:14:05 GMT 12
Am wondering if the person who wrote this obituary has confused phonographs with photographs - as already mentioned he certainly had a huge collection of the former! I know he did have photographs (and books), but don't recall that he had a huge interest in photography - but I could be wrong. Also one detail NOT mentioned in the obit was Bill's OE on leaving the RNZAF (in mid-1930s from memory), when he visited the USA and had some adventures there, including being almost involved in a shot up between gangsters with Tommy guns or some such, travelling in large cars and weaving along the streets swaying from side to side. Another of his anecdotes (which must have been told to him by somebody else) was that when Bill was finishing his Heath Parasol monoplane, he decided he had better learn to fly, so applied to be a flying member of the Canterbury Aero Club, of course also located at Wigram. Now Bill was still a fairly lowly airman at this time (may have been lowly NCO or some such, but definitely not an officer!), and this seemed to greatly upset Squadron Leader J L Findlay (CO of RNZAF Wigram at this time), who thought the very idea of having an AIRMAN MECHANIC under HIS command, flying around on HIS aerodrome was completely beyond the pale. Findlay apparently made a quiet approach to the CFI (or President?) of the Canterbury Aero Club with the request that no serving airman should ever be certified as a pilot on HIS aerodrome. Apparently this did not go down too well with the CAC man, who replied that if such an airman presented himself, and passed the grade, then he was certainly not going to stand in his way! Besides, the Club would naturally be making some money from his tuition fees. So Bill was allowed to fly his aircraft around after all, without any interference from the squadron leader, whose authority was not quite as extensive as he had supposed. Good story, eh?
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 22, 2023 10:02:43 GMT 12
Interesting stuff David. That gangster shoot out must have been a huge shock for a Kiwi to get mixed up in.
I do not know much about Findlay but that sounds like he was a bit of a snob? Sadly such attitudes by certain officers who looked down on airmen was not uncommon and continued for many decades.
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Post by davidd on May 22, 2023 17:11:40 GMT 12
These tales I have recalled from a talk given by Bill at an AHSNZ meeting at St Elmo Courts, perhaps in the 1970s (so at least 40 years ago), and he just threw in the story of the gangsters for a bit or light relief, as it had no aviation relevance whatsoever. Cannot recall what location the gangster story occurred in, but obviously one of the bigger American cities.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 22, 2023 22:56:00 GMT 12
Was he working in aviation in the USA, David? Or just there as a tourist?
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Post by davidd on May 23, 2023 11:41:49 GMT 12
As I recall, I think this was just a big holiday/adventure for Bill at the time, having served faithfully in NZPAF since 1923. I think he also recalled seeing some of the latest American aircraft of the time too, but he was not doing any "business", he just went to America as a private individual with no ulterior motives or hidden agendas (well that is my recollection anyway).
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Post by errolmartyn on May 23, 2023 13:05:20 GMT 12
As I recall, I think this was just a big holiday/adventure for Bill at the time, having served faithfully in NZPAF since 1923. I think he also recalled seeing some of the latest American aircraft of the time too, but he was not doing any "business", he just went to America as a private individual with no ulterior motives or hidden agendas (well that is my recollection anyway). Minor correction: Bill Dini joined the NZPAF in 1924, not 1923. Cheers, Errol |
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