Topdressing Super Cubs

[davidd]

We will have to wait till Errol completes his detailed study of civilian air deaths in New Zealand, will be interesting. However doubt that many useful conclusions could be drawn from it, apart from fact that having the load carried directly behind the pilot made such designs susceptible to killing the driver. Also, as can be seen on this thread, quite a large number of Super Cubs were used in New Zealand for agricultural work, almost invariably flying around in hilly country, so they are bound to be "right up there" when the figures do come in. Having the driver BEHIND the load is always a good idea I should think. Also deaths alone are not the only factor which should be borne in mind when compiling statistics, as many pilots (and loader drivers) have had their lives shattered in serious crashes.
David D

[Dave Homewood]

Absolutely agree there David.

And also high numbers of crashes and deaths might just be because the type was the most frequently used rather than any other factor, like Robinson R44's in the helicopter world.

[Peter Lewis]

ZK-BPG was a club Cub, so the next AgCub was c/n 18-6259 which became ZK-BPH, registered to Airwork on 7Jan1958.

Blenheim-based Aerial Work (Marlborough) Ltd. bought this one, and the ownership change was dated 1Oct1958.

On 4Feb1967 ZK-BPG stalled on take-off from a strip at Puponga, Golden Bay. The pilot, Jim Patton, who had only been active in the industry for a few days, was seriously injured. The aircraft was written off, with the registration being cancelled on 25Sep1967.

However, come October 1989 ZK-BPH rose from the ashes and the rebuild was registered  to A.D. Phillpotts, Auckland. Four years later, in early 2003, it was exported back to the USA where it became N7803F.

ZK-BPH parked out at what looks like Omaka



and at Harewood in May 1961

[The Red Baron]

Sadly the poor old Piper Cub had practically no pilot safety,in the event of a head on crash with a load in the hopper it crushed the pilot between the hopper and the engine.With a load in the hopper it would also spin very well.If you read all the accident reports it was involved in a lot of the pilots had extremely little ag flying experience,Also several pilots came unstuck beating up the airstrip.

[errolmartyn]

Dec 20, 2020 18:05:20 GMT 12 The Red Baron said:

Sadly the poor old Piper Cub had practically no pilot safety,in the event of a head on crash with a load in the hopper it crushed the pilot between the hopper and the engine.With a load in the hopper it would also spin very well.If you read all the accident reports it was involved in a lot of the pilots had extremely little ag flying experience,Also several pilots came unstuck beating up the airstrip.

Herewith a revised listing of my record of PA18 fatal accidents (all causes) in New Zealand (had some major finger trouble with the previous listing, sorry about that):

ZK-AXH (6 Aug 54)
ZK-BNN (25 Feb 57)
ZK-BRS (12 Jul 57)
ZK-BNZ (9 Nov 57)
ZK-BFV (24 Jan 58)
ZK-BKI (15 Feb 58)
ZK-BPJ (13 Jan 60)
ZK-BKZ (11 Jun 60)
ZK-BKC (14 Dec 60)
ZK-BTG (31 Jan 61)
ZK-BRT (9 Feb 61)
ZK-BRV (16 Feb 61)
ZK-BTN (8 Oct 61)
ZK-BTA (22 Oct 61)
ZK-BPN (25 Feb 62)
ZK-BTF (13 Dec 62)
ZK-BKM (29 Jan 63)
ZK-BQT (5 Sep 63)
ZK-BVH (2 Oct 63)
ZK-BPD (4 Feb 65)
ZK-BJZ (27 Feb 65)
ZK-BFQ (29 May 65)
ZK-BNK (6 Jun 65)
ZK-BTJ (22 Jul 65)
ZK-BTY (28 Nov 65)
ZK-BQO (6 Nov 66)
ZK-BPF (11 Sep 68)
ZK-BTO (30 Jun 71)
ZK-BNP (11 Jan 87)

Errol

[nobody]

Dec 20, 2020 14:04:40 GMT 12 Peter Lewis said:

ZK-BPG was a club Cub, so the next AgCub was c/n 18-6259 which became ZK-BPH, registered to Airwork on 7Jan1958.

As I understand it, BPG was owned by Molesworth Station, but operated by the Marlborough Aero Club.  It was put to work on the station dropping fence posts and delivering hay to snow-stranded sheep in the winter.   So, one might argue that it is also an ag-Cub, even though it didn't carry out topdressing.  BPG is a PA-18A, so was built by Piper to have a hopper fitted.   There are some pictures of it at work on Molesworth here:
www.supercub.org/forum/showthread.php?44607

[nobody]

Dec 20, 2020 14:04:40 GMT 12 Peter Lewis said:

ZK-BPG was a club Cub, so the next AgCub was c/n 18-6259 which became ZK-BPH, registered to Airwork on 7Jan1958.

Blenheim-based Aerial Work (Marlborough) Ltd. bought this one, and the ownership change was dated 1Oct1958.

On 4Feb1967 ZK-BPH stalled on take-off from a strip at Puponga, Golden Bay. The pilot, Jim Patton, who had only been active in the industry for a few days, was seriously injured. The aircraft was written off, with the registration being cancelled on 25Sep1967.

I talked with Reg Taylor, the long time engineer at Omaka and he told me BPH was the Nelson based aeroplane for Aerial Work Marlborough. It was flown out of Nelson by Alan Hackston. Reg said Alan would take it away and only bring it back when something broke!

There is a good account of BPH's last flight in Janic Geelen's book. He says that the accident flight was Jim Patton's first operational flight of the day and first day on the job. It reads such that Jim did not return to ag flying.

For Jim, Janic records this as happening after his "training", Janic's inverted commas, so that is arguably a lot of the reason for the high accident rate. Big loads were the order of the day, one ex-Cub pilot told me how you couldn't open the doors with a full can.

The American hopper rear wall had a shallow slope, following the line of the tubing at the back end of the baggage compartment. Probably OK for liquids and grass seed, which is what the American's loaded into the Cub, but no good for our sticky superphosphate and especially lime. Early (fatal) accidents were attributed to the last of the load hanging up on the rear wall of the hopper, causing an out of limits aft C of G situation, contributing to the stall-spin events. Also the size of this hopper more easily allowed overloading.

Airwork designed a new hopper with a nearly vertical rear wall so the hang-ups were less likely to happen. In the pictures of the early Cubs in this thread, you can see the D-window being completely "blacked out" by the hopper. In the pictures of the later Cubs, the picture of BPH at Omaka shows this clearly, you can see light at the back of the D-window showing the near-vertical line of the rear wall of the Airwork hopper.

Airwork also made the hopper out of galvanised steel, where as the Piper hopper was made of aluminium and was prone to corrosion, as you'd expect being filled with Superphosphate! At the same time, the hopper outlet was enlarged, the American hopper having two small chutes exiting between the tubing framework. Airwork designed a mod that changed the frame tubing for a much larger outlet. This meant the outlet was less prone to blockage and an emergency dump happened a lot quicker.

Aerial Farming addressed the crash-worthiness with additional tubes from the lower engine mount point to the bottom of the A-pillar and additional tubes bracing the "V" in the windscreen. The pilots harness was changed to the "Pawnee harness" with 3-inch webbing and metal to metal buckles.

All of these changes probably made the Cub no more dangerous than anything else around at the time with the load behind the pilot, but it's days of tipping out fert were numbered anyway by other changes in the industry.

[Peter Lewis]

Dec 20, 2020 22:49:38 GMT 12 errolmartyn said:

Dec 20, 2020 18:05:20 GMT 12 The Red Baron said:

Only seven Piper PA18s seem to have been involved in fatal accidents in New Zealand, namely ZK-AXH (6 Aug 54), ZK-BPF (11 Sep 68), ZK-BTO (30 Jun 71), ZK-DEZ (24 Apr 80), ZK-BNP (11 Jan 87), ZK-BTX (20 Dec 98) and ZK-SHG (2 Jul 03).

Errol

Of course many of the fatal Cub crashes did not occur during agricultural ops - eg ZK-BPF.
There seems to be a high level of 'accidents during aggressive beatups' as well.

[Peter Lewis]

Dec 21, 2020 6:55:22 GMT 12 nobody said:

Dec 20, 2020 14:04:40 GMT 12 Peter Lewis said:

As I understand it, BPG was owned by Molesworth Station, but operated by the Marlborough Aero Club.  It was put to work on the station dropping fence posts and delivering hay to snow-stranded sheep in the winter.   So, one might argue that it is also an ag-Cub, even though it didn't carry out topdressing.  BPG is a PA-18A, so was built by Piper to have a hopper fitted.   There are some pictures of it at work on Molesworth here:
www.supercub.org/forum/showthread.php?44607

On one of the lists I am working from, ZK-BPG is listed as a Cub 90 while the other says Cub 150, so you may well be right.

Airwork sold ZK-BPG new to a W J Foley in March 1958. I have no idea who he was or what he used the Cub for, but his address was 'Utiku, Taihape' so presumably he was rural.

Foley had previously owned Taylorcraft BC-12D ZK-BSW from February 1957 and had sold that to Airwork in November 1957.

After disposing of ZK-BPG in April 1964 to the North Otago Aero Club he does not seem to have personally owned any later aircraft.

Foley's ZK-BPG at New Plymouth in March 1958



ZK-BPG passed through the hands of Oakair Aviation (1966) and the Nelson Aero Club (1967) before arriving at the Marlborough aero club in June 1969. In August 1989 they disposed of it to Aurora Aeronautics, Christchurch.

[errolmartyn]

Dec 21, 2020 16:04:21 GMT 12 Peter Lewis said:

Dec 20, 2020 22:49:38 GMT 12 errolmartyn said:

Errol

Of course many of the fatal Cub crashes did not occur during agricultural ops - eg ZK-BPF.
There seems to be a high level of 'accidents during aggressive beatups' as well.

Peter,

See my revised-corrected listing posted just now.

Cheers,
Errol

[errolmartyn]

Dec 21, 2020 16:17:59 GMT 12 Peter Lewis said:

Airwork sold ZK-BPG new to a W J Foley in March 1958. I have no idea who he was or what he used the Cub for, but his address was 'Utiku, Taihape' so presumably he was rural.

Foley had previously owned Taylorcraft BC-12D ZK-BSW from February 1957 and had sold that to Aiwork in November 1957.

After disposing of ZK-BPG in April 1964 to the North Otago Aero Club he does not seem to have personally owned any later aircraft.

According to the electoral roll of 1957, Willima James Foley was a farmer.

He may be the same man as the 'W. J. Foley' who was granted his Pilot's 'A' Licence (No. 921) on 4 Mar 36 while a member of the Manawatu Aero Club.

Errol

[thomarse]

Bill Foley certainly owned and flew BPG when it lived in one of the two corrugated iron "T" hangars at the old Taihape strip (BFQ was in the other)

I'm certain BPG was 150hp (and I think I see flaps in that photo) but whether or not it was an "A" I can't say without seeing a photo of her upper parts.

Bill Foley lived in Utiku as stated, and I'm pretty sure lived at the long since deserted strip where WAW were based

[madmax]

ZK-BPG was a 150hp Cub. On August 21 1968 I flew it Nelson-Motueka-Takaka-Collingwood and return. The tell-tale sign that it was powered with a 150hp Lycoming is the evidence of flaps in the photograph. 90hp Cubs were not equipped with such.

[chinapilot]

Flaps are the giveaway on the 150 Cub.

Regarding BPG - Jim Patton completed his CPL at the Wellington Aero Club and this was his first aviation job.
He was from Scotland and got into flying later in life and I understand his legs were very badly injured in the accident.

[Peter Lewis]

Now we've got BPG sorted, on with the next one - ZK-BPI c/n 18-6276.

This Cub was registered to Airwork on 17Mar1958 and then went north to Northern Air Services  at Te Kuiti in June.

Pilot Jan Smoes had an incident in ZK-BPI at Kopaki, south of Te Kuiti, on 9Aug1959.

This Cub continued to fly with Northern until March 1961 when it then moved down to Aerial Farming (Holdings) Ltd., Milson. 

Early in 1967 Ed Hollick, at that time living in Te Awamutu, bought ZK-BPI to replace his Tiger Moth ZK-ATN. It then moved around a number of private owners until arriving in the hands of Bay Flight International at Mt Maunganui in March 2004. They re-registered it as ZK-TOW/2 that same month, and the aircraft is still alive and active in the deep south.

ZK-BPI at Te Kuiti August 1960



and at Wanganui in May 1961



At Milson, Palmerston North, as a sprayer 17Feb1966.
(That's my Ford Defect in the background. Having started life as a Ford Prefect, by time I acquired it, it had become a Ford Defect).

[nobody]

ZK-BPG is definitely a PA-18A-150. There are a few tell-tale sign visible in Peter's photo; the baggage door, which were never fitted to straight 18's out of the factory, the curve in the turtle-deck, straight 18's are straight along the top when viewed from the side, and if you zoom in on the photo, the fasteners for the metal topdeck and handles for the hatch are visible. Besides, the CAA website lists it as a PA-18A-150.

I have read that Piper sometimes delivered a PA-18A-150 in passenger configuration when a PA-18-150 was ordered and an -18A was all they had available. I wonder if this was the case with BPG or if Airwork converted it for Bill Foley. These posts are jogging some memories; Reg Taylor told me BPG never had a hopper fitted and Peter's photo confirms that at least it started out life without one. The 18A's are preferred by many over straight 18's; they perform slightly better and have more baggage space.

[madmax]

The tell-tale difference between the PA18-150 passenger aircraft and ag aircraft was the ag version had a central stringer which ran the length of the upper fuselage removed making the top of the fuselage flat. This stringer had to be removed because it would have interfered with the hopper opening. I imagine Airwork would have instructed the Piper Corp to leave this stringer out during production as it would have been an expensive and labour intensive exercise to remove it once the aircraft had arrived in NZ. The passenger version with stringer in place had an inverted "V" shape turtle deck. 

[Peter Lewis]

I have found further details on the floats fitted to ZK-BPC in a 1970 AHSNZ Journal, written by Dave Duxbury.

Therefore I have amended the entries above for both ZK-BPA and ZK-BPC.

[Peter Lewis]

The next two Cubs registered, ZK-BPJ and ZK-BPK, were PA18 Super Cub 150 models and went directly to the Auckland Aero Club.

Thus the next ag version was c/n 18-6379 which became ZK-BPL with Airwork on 19Jun1958.

This Cub moved north to Reeves Transport (Air Services) at Hastings in September 1958, being bought (along with ZK-BOX) to replace Cessna 180 ZK-BQA.

In October 1963 Bill Reeves sold the aerial operation to Aerial Farming of NZ but as the aerial work licence remained in the Reeves name the ownership of ZK-BPL also remained in the name of the Reeves company.

This Cub appears to have led a life free of major incidents, but carried out its final flight on 7Jun1965. On that same date the registration of the ownership was transferred to Aerial Farming (Holdings) Ltd.

Withdrawn from use at Milson, the registration was cancelled on 21Jun1965. 
Major parts of this airframe were then used, along with parts from ZK-BKP and a new fuselage to construct a 'new' Cub which became ZK-CMQ in August 1965 with c/n AF-PA18-3.

ZK-CMQ had no agricultural use, being sold into private hands in October.

ZK-BPL at Hastings January 1958



Now with a Swathemaster, Palmerston North February 1964

[nobody]

CMQ was restored to S/N 18-6379 before it left New Zealand and now lives in Alaska registered as N555BG.