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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2008 18:27:08 GMT 12
Hey guys!
I'm curious as to whether anyone knows ANYTHING about Western Air Spray, the operation Dave Paterson flew from Wanganui in the 1960s. According to The Topdressers 1990 he flew in NZ from '60-'68 before moving to Australia, but that's all. I've found an old sign amongst things to be thrown out at work, and it's piqued my interest.....
Does anyone know what Dave/WAS flew? Any pics? I'm sure Peter Lewis will be along momentarily to help :-D
He first flew for WAW, but the name rings no bells at work today from what I gather.
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Dec 25, 2008 19:58:21 GMT 12
The history of Western Air Spray is in the other Topdressers (1982)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2008 20:54:05 GMT 12
Humph! *folds arms and frowns*
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Dec 25, 2008 21:06:10 GMT 12
In a nutshell ,Established 1965 on a 50/50 basis with Dave Patterson,WAW spraying was previously done by the aero Club,1967 WAW sold their share to Dave Patterson,1968 Patterson sold out to WAW and went to Aussie.
WAS was then managed by Dave Stewart until Alan Harding took over,they bought a Cropmaster to do the spraying and WAS was gradually phased out and the Cropmaster replaced by a Fletcher and WAW did the spraying.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2008 21:27:50 GMT 12
 Thanks! |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2008 18:46:43 GMT 12
So we now know that WAS flew a Cropmaster. Thing is, six were registered in NZ, and I'd love to see pics of whichever one Alan Harding flew.....Peter, are you able to help?
Also, does that mean WAS initially flew a Cub or Auster for the spraying mission then? And which?
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Dec 29, 2008 15:40:29 GMT 12
Cub,C 180,Pawnee,Airtruk,Fletcher......take your pick.A lot of the spraying in those days was done with a swathmaster instead of booms,so it wasn't hard to turn a Fletcher from a topdresser to a sprayer at short notice.Other than crops there wasn't a lot that was sprayed,thistles were sprayed in the winter,but farmers often tendered that in groups,Forestry spraying seems to have been largely the domain of Rural,James and Adastra.
One would assume that the WAS license which allowed aerial spraying over the whole of NZ was the most important thing to WAW.It would allow them to range into Rurals and James territory,although it would appear WAW didnt pursue the big forestry contracts of the time,maybe there was some gentlemens agreement not to poach the other firms spraying and they wouldn't pinch WAW's topdressing work.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2009 12:01:13 GMT 12
Thanks for all the help guys! I had a phonecall the other day from someone explaining every aspect of the WAS story, after he saw this thread. Many thanks!
I appreciate everyone's input.
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Jan 4, 2009 13:54:33 GMT 12
Are you going to fill us in?.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2009 15:05:40 GMT 12
Essentially everything you've shared, and some other stuff eg regos......which, of course, I didn't write down!
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jan 11, 2009 9:44:37 GMT 12
I'm sure Peter Lewis will be along momentarily to help : I've been away for three weeks, so there is a bit of catching up to do. As already discussed, the Wanganui Aero Club did operate a spraying service and utilised 150hp Cubs for this, as seen with ZK-BKN  and ZK-BRO  When this operation was spun off as Western Air Spray Cub ZK-BTI was used. This came directly from Aircraft Holdings Ltd. rather than the Club, and as far as I can see was the only aircraft registered directly to WAS. This Cub was later sold to Dalcom Aviation Training Ltd. (the ag pilot training operation of Beryck Dalcom).  The Cropmaster later involved would have to be ZK-CLW, registered to Wanganui Aero Work in May 1973 and apparently the only Cropmaster used for ag ops in the North Island. This aircraft last flew on 5th July 1974, and later turned up at Ardmore - photo dated 6Dec1975.  I understand that ZK-CLW is now in storage at Thames after being used as a spares source for ZK-CDI. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2009 12:21:43 GMT 12
Thanks a million for the shots Peter! Hope you had a great holiday  |
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jan 14, 2009 20:36:35 GMT 12
Thanks a million for the shots Peter! Hope you had a great holiday Sick as a rat actually. But thems the breaks. |
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Post by fletcherfu24 on Jan 15, 2009 21:14:42 GMT 12
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2009 6:25:14 GMT 12
Mmmm Fletchers..............   Oh, if you want a pair of REAL Fletchers...  |
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Post by Fletcher400 on Jan 17, 2009 10:49:41 GMT 12
Nice Fletcher pic there Zac, whats the reg of the one in the background? and whats happening with it?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2009 7:30:16 GMT 12
EUH. Not too sure....I wanna take it home and rebuild it  |
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Post by flyby007 on Jul 24, 2015 22:39:47 GMT 12
Hey guys! I'm curious as to whether anyone knows ANYTHING about Western Air Spray, the operation Dave Paterson flew from Wanganui in the 1960s. According to The Topdressers 1990 he flew in NZ from '60-'68 before moving to Australia, but that's all. I've found an old sign amongst things to be thrown out at work, and it's piqued my interest..... Does anyone know what Dave/WAS flew? Any pics? I'm sure Peter Lewis will be along momentarily to help :-D He first flew for WAW, but the name rings no bells at work today from what I gather. |
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Post by flyby007 on Jul 24, 2015 23:01:54 GMT 12
I thought I’d add to this discussion about Dave Paterson's career after leaving NZ in 1968. Sadly Dave passed away in June 1997, however I was able to collect extracts from an article published in the "Rural Post' in July 1997 written by Peter Elliot a pilot with Superair. Prior to 1968 and after leaving NZ Dave worked in Albury NSW with Hazair for a number of years then back to NZ for a year or so before taking a job offer as manager in Armidale NSW with a small top dressing business named Super Air in Armidale NSW. The article goes on to say that Superair really went ahead under Dave's guidance and with help of benevolent directors of the company. The company started to expand and a fleet of Fletcher FU24 grew from 2,4 to 6 and ulimately to 10 aircraft with the growth of the company a maintence facility was also established while Dave was managing Director until the wool downturn of the late 80's. Dave retired from flying in 1989 clocking up over 20,000 flying hours. I thought I would add some photo's of Dave and Superair while he was managing Director.
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Post by flyby007 on Jul 24, 2015 23:27:15 GMT 12
I thought I’d add to this discussion about Dave Paterson's career after leaving NZ in 1968. Sadly Dave passed away in June 1997, however I was able to collect extracts from an article published in the "Rural Post' in July 1997, written by Peter Elliot a pilot with Superair Armidale. Prior to 1968 and after leaving NZ Dave worked in Albury NSW with Hazair Albury for a number of years then back to NZ for a year or so before taking a job offer as manager with a small top dressing business named Super Air Armidale NSW. The article goes on to say that Super air really went ahead under Dave's guidance and with assistance from benevolent directors of the company. Super Air Armidale started to expand and a fleet of Fletcher FU24 grew from 2,4 to 6 and ulimately to 10 aircraft with the growth of the company a maintence facility was also established while Dave was managing Director until the wool downturn of the late 80's. Dave retired from flying in 1989 clocking up over 20,000 flying hours. I thought I would add some photo's of Dave and Superair while he was managing Director.
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Thanks!
