Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 10, 2017 12:48:00 GMT 12
Media Release: 55th anniversary of New Zealand’s most-searched-for-lost-aircraft
Sunday 12th February 2017 is the 55th anniversary since of the disappearance of de Havilland Dragonfly ZK-AFB, its pilot Brian Chadwick, and four tourist passengers (including a honeymoon couple) after it took off from Christchurch International Airport for a routine scenic flight to Milford Sound. The Dragonfly is New Zealand’s most-searched-for-lost-aircraft and private searches continue, including new initiatives this summer (see below).
On Monday 12th February 1962 de Havilland DH90A Dragonfly ZK-AFB ‘Kiwi Rover’ went missing on a scenic flight from Christchurch to Milford Sound. The search for the aircraft, its pilot Brian Chadwick and four tourist passengers; Louis Rowan, Darrell Shiels and honeymooners Elwyn & Valerie Saville, was headline news in New Zealand and Australia. In spite of the largest aerial search undertaken in New Zealand, and one of the most extensive in the South Pacific, nothing has ever been found.
[The Dragonfly flight was while President John Kennedy was in the White House, just before John Glenn orbited the earth, and before the Beatles became famous worldwide!).
Sunday 12th February marks the 55th anniversary since the disappearance, one of New Zealand’s great aviation mysteries. The story is intriguing; an entrepreneurial pilot, pioneering air charter work, a veteran biplane airliner, scenic flying over mountainous terrain, overseas tourist passengers including a young honeymoon couple, and ongoing search initiatives that continue to this day (see below).
Will public attention for this 55th anniversary furnish some clues to encourage the discovery of the Dragonfly and its luckless passengers?
Book resources: For stories and photographs about the lost Dragonfly aircraft, see the comprehensive book; ‘LOST … without trace?’ by Richard Waugh (2005, Craigs, Invercargill). The book contains detailed information of the disappearance, theories of the approximate area where the wreckage likely rests, and also about how Captain Chadwick’s flying colleague, Captain Brian Waugh (the author’s father), spent five years fruitlessly aerial searching for his friend. Another book, ‘Traced … Yet still missing!’ by Gavin Grimmer (2009, Grimmer, Hawkes Bay) outlines Grimmer’s search theories.
For websites related to ongoing Dragonfly searches see:
www.findlostaircraft.co.nz/zk-afb.html (Gavin Grimmer 027 4865691)
Gavin is currently working on advanced technology in the hope he can locate the wreckage in the Jacobs River area of South Westland. Gavin has already undertaken several searches in the South Island for the Dragonfly.
www.whitebusfamily.co.nz/the_dragonfly_mystery.htm (Bobby Reeve/Simon Reeve - 022 3276585).
Bobby and son Simon are undertaking another extended Dragonfly search this month in the Hopkins/Huxley Valleys of the Southern Alps, following their find of a woman’s dress boot from a previous search. They have had the shoe dated from the late 1950s/1960s.
More information about the missing aircraft on the 55th anniversary, contact Aviation Historian and long-time researcher about the Dragonfly mystery: Rev. Dr Richard Waugh of Auckland rjw@ecw.org.nz 022 5339400
De Havilland Dragonfly ZK-AFB at Milford Sound shortly before its mysterious disappearance on 12th February 1962 (Photo: Edna Bates)
Rev Dr Richard Waugh with his book ‘LOST … without trace?’ Will this book contribute to the solving of the aviation mystery? (Photo: Gisborne Herald)
Sunday 12th February 2017 is the 55th anniversary since of the disappearance of de Havilland Dragonfly ZK-AFB, its pilot Brian Chadwick, and four tourist passengers (including a honeymoon couple) after it took off from Christchurch International Airport for a routine scenic flight to Milford Sound. The Dragonfly is New Zealand’s most-searched-for-lost-aircraft and private searches continue, including new initiatives this summer (see below).
On Monday 12th February 1962 de Havilland DH90A Dragonfly ZK-AFB ‘Kiwi Rover’ went missing on a scenic flight from Christchurch to Milford Sound. The search for the aircraft, its pilot Brian Chadwick and four tourist passengers; Louis Rowan, Darrell Shiels and honeymooners Elwyn & Valerie Saville, was headline news in New Zealand and Australia. In spite of the largest aerial search undertaken in New Zealand, and one of the most extensive in the South Pacific, nothing has ever been found.
[The Dragonfly flight was while President John Kennedy was in the White House, just before John Glenn orbited the earth, and before the Beatles became famous worldwide!).
Sunday 12th February marks the 55th anniversary since the disappearance, one of New Zealand’s great aviation mysteries. The story is intriguing; an entrepreneurial pilot, pioneering air charter work, a veteran biplane airliner, scenic flying over mountainous terrain, overseas tourist passengers including a young honeymoon couple, and ongoing search initiatives that continue to this day (see below).
Will public attention for this 55th anniversary furnish some clues to encourage the discovery of the Dragonfly and its luckless passengers?
Book resources: For stories and photographs about the lost Dragonfly aircraft, see the comprehensive book; ‘LOST … without trace?’ by Richard Waugh (2005, Craigs, Invercargill). The book contains detailed information of the disappearance, theories of the approximate area where the wreckage likely rests, and also about how Captain Chadwick’s flying colleague, Captain Brian Waugh (the author’s father), spent five years fruitlessly aerial searching for his friend. Another book, ‘Traced … Yet still missing!’ by Gavin Grimmer (2009, Grimmer, Hawkes Bay) outlines Grimmer’s search theories.
For websites related to ongoing Dragonfly searches see:
www.findlostaircraft.co.nz/zk-afb.html (Gavin Grimmer 027 4865691)
Gavin is currently working on advanced technology in the hope he can locate the wreckage in the Jacobs River area of South Westland. Gavin has already undertaken several searches in the South Island for the Dragonfly.
www.whitebusfamily.co.nz/the_dragonfly_mystery.htm (Bobby Reeve/Simon Reeve - 022 3276585).
Bobby and son Simon are undertaking another extended Dragonfly search this month in the Hopkins/Huxley Valleys of the Southern Alps, following their find of a woman’s dress boot from a previous search. They have had the shoe dated from the late 1950s/1960s.
More information about the missing aircraft on the 55th anniversary, contact Aviation Historian and long-time researcher about the Dragonfly mystery: Rev. Dr Richard Waugh of Auckland rjw@ecw.org.nz 022 5339400
De Havilland Dragonfly ZK-AFB at Milford Sound shortly before its mysterious disappearance on 12th February 1962 (Photo: Edna Bates)
Rev Dr Richard Waugh with his book ‘LOST … without trace?’ Will this book contribute to the solving of the aviation mystery? (Photo: Gisborne Herald)
