Cessna 180s in NZ

[The Red Baron]

2/3rds the way down the page......ZK-CBS

[errolmartyn]

Mar 8, 2015 18:43:03 GMT 12 patrickpower said:

W.B Easton was a bridge building and general engineer in Dannevirke.His grandsons still run it as Metalform. I was told in 1968 that Easton had just rebuilt the aircraft.It was pristine,new paint with new Cessna decals and placards everywhere. I had my first lessons on Supercub BPA the 6.7th and 14th January 1968.On one of these days Easton who had a gammy leg,asked me to help push BGI out of the hangar.He positioned it with the tail politely away from the hangar mouth,chocked it firmly,started it where it was and then went in to phone in a flight plan and ring a farmer he was off to see. The two young blokes who had come across from Ohakea with my instructor FtLt Newton catcalled."Hey old cowboy,be careful that beautiful horse doesnt gallop off without you!".Easton's neck reddened but he did say a word. Phone calls over he clambered back in, did an engine run up and control checks. More jeering " Hey you dont need to do a full run up before taxi-ing mate!" Easton peered out all around,made a quick traffic call,flicked the chock away and into the cabin by its cord,opened the throttle,turning the tail and prop blast onto the three young airforce types,picking the tail up on the brakes and took off ACROSS the width of the East West at Dannevirke. Some 500 ft or so. Leaped the fence and seemingly moments later pulled straight up into a wing over at probably 150ft before making a run straight back at the hangar at grass height.It seemed he would go through the hangar and the boys were scattering.Last minute pull up and an arse wiggling departure towards the coast. "Who does that old bastard think he is?" exclaimed one of the jet jocks. Ian Bright who had just arrived laconically replied,"Probably thinks he's Easton, W.B. Royal Flying Corp ww1 ace."The Air force guys then realised his photo was on the wall at Ohakea.
As I remember he lied about his age to get into the forces and had some 7 kills to his name.50 years later He used to fly bridge site inspections at low levels over creeks and down valleys. Apparently farmers signed his contracts without quibbling to avoid the joy of another inspection flight. If anyone knnows more about W.B.Easton's war history I'd love to know it.Patrick Power

William Bowie Easton died in 1992 and was born 14 Feb 1901, according to NZ BDM records online. He does not appear to have been born in New Zealand nor to have ever served in any of the military air services to the best of my knowledge.

Errol

[avagwhiz]

I posted on NZ Civil air site back in Nov 14 that CBS would be getting a can in it so Ray Patchett can help a couple of guys get an agrating for spraying.
Apparently a belly tank is not acceptable for DCA.Finding a suitable can must have been a bit more difficult than anticipated.Im sure I took shots of CBS
about 50 years ago when MtCook were doing carrots with it.If I ever locate the missing b/w photos I will endeavour post.
Check the Civair site couple of weeks ago for a full update.

[delticman]

A lot of the Mt Cook Cessna 185's could be fitted with hoppers or as float planes. ZK-CBS has retained the ag conversion right through it's life.

[isc]

Some where I have a photo of CMS at Cromwell around 1975, it was a bunny bomber, and there were plenty of bunnies around Cromwell in those days. isc

[patrickpower]

Thanks. Errol. I might check up with the Easton's in Dannevirke to find out if they know any more.BGI was with Rex Air in 1967,damaged I think. Easton seems to have registered it next but didnt hold it for many years.He must have owned other aircraft as he was actively flying and fitting hoppers for more years than he seems to have owned BGI.You say he was a registered owner of BDM as well? I wonder where he did his engineering education...he built girder bridges,designed and fitted top dressing hoppers.Must have either had LAME tickets or had a tame on on hand.Much later his sons or grandsons got experimenting with using such set ups for dropping fire retardant mixtures.I watched one of those being done sometime in the 90's. Not with a 180 then of course.And Bill would have been dead by then. I see the grandsons filing US patents for clever things.

[Peter Lewis]

I note that W B Easton, Dannevirke owned the following aircraft:

Tiger Moth ZK-AZY from December 1957, obtained from Aerodress Ltd. also of Dannevirke and sold to Airwork (NZ) Ltd., Christchurch.

Piper PA22 Caribbean 150 ZK-BSH, obtained from Airwork (NZ) Ltd. in July 1962 and sold to J C & M J Cole, Tauranga.

Cessna 180 ZK-BGI, obtained from Hewett Aviation Ltd., Mossburn and sold to Mangapapa Land Co.Ltd., Auckland in March 1972.

Errol's mention of 'NZ BDM' refers to 'Births, Deaths and Marriages' - nothing to do with Auster ZK-BDM!

[Mustang51]

When I first travelled across the Ditch I was told that the Cessna 180/185 was New Zealand's National Bird............

[isc]

-v

[kiwithrottlejockey]

Mar 11, 2015 11:58:37 GMT 12 Mustang51 said:

When I first travelled across the Ditch I was told that the Cessna 180/185 was New Zealand's National Bird............

My first thirty or so rides in a Cessna 185 were all one-way trips.

ie… I was in the aeroplane when it took off but was no longer aboard when it landed.

Eventually I got to discover what it was like to be onboard a Cessna 185 during the landing.

And ALL of my rides in a Cessna 180 have been one-way trips — I wouldn't have a clue what landing in one is like.

[kiwiduster1]

Dec 12, 2009 20:41:14 GMT 12 skywagon180 said:

   

Anybody know anything about this photo?

This from way back on page 6 of this thread!!!  I think the guy may be Brian Snell. If i'm correct he flew for Aerial Farming/Manawatu ATD.  Killed Australia in a c180 at Cosgrove 24 Sept 65

[donboy]

Pleased to have found this site, my father was the founding engineer with Rural aviation and did a lot of 180 hopper installations. All 180's were new ex USA, hoppers designed and built by Rural for their aircraft. Also interested to see photo's of BJU which he assembled and operated with Midland Air Services,( used to help him a bit occasionally as a young fulla )

[Peter Lewis]

Jul 22, 2014 14:38:32 GMT 12 davidd said:

Lance Gatehouse embarked at Wellington for Canada 11/2/44 per MARIPOSA, qualified as pilot 20/10/44 and commissioned with effect from same date. He returned to NZ on New Year's Day 1945, was still at Ohakea with OTU when war ended, so never quite managed to get fully operational. He possibly regretted not having volunteered just that little bit earlier, but we cannot really say. Is Lance still with us?
David D

Lance Gatehouse died in Fiji 12th April 2015 aged 90.

deaths.dompost.co.nz/obituaries/dominion-post-nz/obituary.aspx?pid=174668202

[derekbu]

In my book on the CAC Ceres, I'm providing some context with a chapter on all the ag-aircraft which were in operation in Australia and New Zealand prior to the Ceres. So I will have a few paragraphs on the Cessna 180. Here's my first draft in case anyone feels like providing some feedback:

The Cessna 180 was a heavier and more powerful model to complement the Cessna 170. The prototype first flew at Wichita in May 1952 and 6,193 aircraft were produced between 1953 and 1981 in 11 different variants. Military versions flew with many armed forces, including the RAAF and the Australian Army, which saw 19 aircraft in service.

Cessna 180s first arrived in New Zealand in October 1953, and the first use of the Cessna 180 for aerial top-dressing was undertaken in New Zealand by Rural Aviation, the Cessna distributor. Phil Lightband had carried out top-dressing tests in a Cessna 170 in May 1953, carrying 6 cwt of super. Lightband found the aircraft “too light and under-powered for this job”. The Cessna 180 became available at this time and Lightband immediately started tests with the first aircraft to be assembled, ZK-BDF, on 6 October 1953. A hopper was installed in the cabin, behind the pilot, with a loading hatch on top of the fuselage and the hopper gate protruding below the fuselage. Numerous aerial agriculture companies operated Cessna 180s in New Zealand, including Aerial Work, Barr Brothers, Cookson Superspread, James Aviation, Thames Aerial Topdressing, Wanganui Aero Work and Wanganui Ag School.

The Cessna 180 was a highly versatile aircraft, usually fitted with an internal hopper, they also carried various belly tanks, wing tanks and spay bar arrangements. Hard-points under the wings enable the dropping of bundles of fence-posts and other supplies, and one Cessna 180 was modified with large cages under the wings for dropping bales of hay.

The first Cessna 180 to arrive in Australia was VH-RAT, imported by the Australian distributor Rex Aviation for Robby’s Aircraft Co. Ltd. in October 1954. Phil Lightband was again involved, by then he was Chief Pilot for Rural Aviation, a sister company to Rex Aviation. VH-RAT was fully equipped for agricultural operations, with a hopper in the cockpit and spray booms and tanks under the wings.

A Skyspread Cessna 180 gave a top-dressing demonstration at the Aerial Agricultural Conference held at Hawkesbury College, near Richmond in July 1958, and a Hazair Cessna 180 demonstrated spraying. As in New Zealand, Cessna 180 aircraft were operated by numerous agricultural aviation companies, including Aerial Agriculture, the Agricultural Pilots’ Training School (Bankstown), Airfarm Associates, Cropcair, Farmair, Hazelton Air Services (who operated 17), Pastoral Aviation, Pay’s Air Service, Robby’s Aircraft and Super Air.


Comments, additions and corrections are welcome!

Regards,
Derek

[Peter Lewis]

Dec 12, 2015 23:20:29 GMT 12 derekbu said:

. . .both companies were owned by Miles King . . .

Not quite true.

Rural Avation had a number of shareholders right from the start - Miles King being just one of them. He was, of course, Managing Director for most of the company's life.

I seem to recall that Rex Aviation became a listed company later in its life, but you'd need to check on that.

[derekbu]

Thanks for the comment Peter, noted. I've amended the draft above to remove the comment regarding Miles King being the owner... will check on the relationship between the companies.

Regards,
Derek

[The Red Baron]

Rural Aviation was originally founded by Miles King,although he was the Chairman,he was only a shareholder in the company.His fathers rural supply company Newton-King had the biggest shareholding and they supplied fertiliser and booked jobs through their network of farm stores.
When they started importing Cessna's they formed Rex Aviation(NZ) as a separate company and Rural became a subsidary of Rex(NZ) and there biggest customer for aircraft.
Rex Aviation(NZ) also had flying schools and airline ventures,mainly to facilitate the sales of more Cessna aircraft.
Rex(NZ) also had the rights to sell Cessnas in Australia so Rex(Australia) was formed,Miles King was chairman(CEO) of all of the companies.
Rex Aviation was listed on the sharemarket,in the mid 1960's other shareholders managed to gain control.
Around 1967 the aerial topdressing industry was in a slump,Rex(NZ) had purchased a huge number of Agwagons to supply Rural and other topdressing operators,which they couldn't sell.Rex Group had reached the top of their credit limit with Cessna Finance and things look a bit dire,so around 1968 the majority shareholders voted Miles King out of office and the company.
Rural Aviation was split into 3 separate companies,Rural,Midland and Phoenix and sold off.
Rex also had the Learjet and Enstrom helicopter agencies,which they also sold off,and I think they pretty much sold up everything else and vanished like so many companies listed on the sharemarket in those days did.

[delticman]

Cessna 180 operators in New Zealand. Rural Aviation operated around thirty one of the type from 1953 to 1968. After two or so years in service, they would be sold and newer aircraft purchased. There were other operators like Northern Air Services of Te Kuiti, eleven, Air Contracts of Masterton, seven. Manawatu Aerial Topdressing of Feilding, six. Rangitikei Air Services of Taihape, seven. Hewett Aviation of Mossburn, five. Airspread of Mount Maunganui, four. Barr Bros, four. Southern Scenic Air Services of Queenstown, four. There of course were other operators that had either one to three aircraft.

I'm not aware of any New Zealand Cessna 180's fitted with a belly tank and spray booms. Phil Lightband told me that the 180 hopper was designed and made in New Zealand and was the same as fitted to the Cessna 170B, ZK-AZC.

Cessna 180 operators in Australia. Hazelton Air Services of Cudal NSW, operated around twenty five aircraft including one Cessna 182B which had been converted to a "180". Robbys Aerial Services of Parafield, SA, seven. Super Spread Aviation of Moorabbin V, seven. Hazair Agricultural Service of Orange and Albury NSW, five. Dutton Aerial Sowing of Canowindra, NSW, four. Goulburn Air Services of Goulburn NSW, four. Pay & Williamson of Narrowmine NSW, four. Proctors Rural Services of Alexandria Vic, three. Air Mist of Launceston T, three. AGA of Mayland WA, three.

The Australian Cessna 180 operators were mostly aerial topdressers on super phosphate. The spray operators mostly went from DH82A's to PA25's.

[isc]

Got a photo here of the last three on the apron outside the NAC hangar at Momona in December 1966, there's CFI, CHK, and BDE. CFI stayed at Rex and we rebuilt it for the Gore Aero Club. The Agwagons had taken over by then. 

At this stage things were getting a bit tight, Muldoon's think big was biteing in with the Urea plant cutting down the amount of Super being spread, the flying hours dropped, and we were beginning to have to look for work, I left soon after.  isc

[delticman]

The guts fell out of the wool prices. Lack of money for super spreading.