Kiwi Topdressers in the UK

[chinapilot]

Living over in the UK at the moment and the area I'm in, the SouthWest, evidently had many Kiwis flying here in the late '60s early '70s.

Anybody out there that did it or knows of anyone that did?

There was an Agwagon written off down the road from here in Bridgwater [Somerset] in the early '70s supposedly flown by a Kiwi.

Interestingly, in this rural area down at the pub Kiwi shearers are remembered with affection also as they used to come over regularly during that time also.

[Peter Lewis]

I understand that the UK season was handy for Kiwi pilots, as it provided off-season employment (winter here, summer there).
Wings magazine has carried a few stories over the years on various pilot's topdressing experiences, where they built hours by gaining year-round employment in this manner. Can't recollect any names, though. Someone may be interested in searching through the back files.

As I write this, I seem to have a recollection of a kiwi chap who was flying a Pawnee in the UK when he got hit by an RAF Lightning out on a low-level exercise. Didn't do him much good.

[fletcherfu24]

Wings May '81.....I knew I have been saving that issue for 26 years just for this question......
Paul Hickmott ex Airwork was hit by a Phantom '73.Owen Topp was killed spraying '79.Been others injured there if you have time to read the back of the "Topdressers".

[chinapilot]

Thanks guys

[Dave Homewood]

I swear I thought I'd posted this to the forum previously, but I cannot find the post at all now using the search engine. Anyway, here it is (again?).... from The Press, 12 August 1974:

Christchurch pilot dies in U.K. crash

A young Christchurch pilot was killed when his crop-spraying aircraft and a Royal Air Force Phantom jet collided in mid-air near Downham Market, a town in eastern England, on Friday.

He was PAUL KENNETH HICKMOTT, aged 24, of 38 Merivale Lane.

The two members of the crew of the Phantom were also killed. The crash occurred about three miles south of Downham Market while Mr Hickmott’s aircraft was spraying gorse and the Phantom was on a low-level exercise. The Phantom was one of two flying from the R.A.F. base at Coningsby, about 40 miles north of the town.

Mr Hickmott arrived in England only a few weeks I ago to begin work crop-dusting and gorse-spraying for an Essex firm. His father, Mr K. W. Hickmott, learned of the accident about 4 a.m. on Saturday, and telephoned England on Saturday night for more details.

“The Phantom was apparently hedge-hopping and dodging radar, but as far as we can ascertain, the accident was the fault of neither pilot,” he said last evening.

Mr Paul Hickmott formerly worked for Airwork (N.Z.), Ltd, Rangiora, mostly as a loader driver. He suffered a broken back when his Piper Pawnee crashed into a hill at Mount Torlesse, near Springfield, a year ago. He was flown from Mount Torlesse by Iroquois helicopter, and spent several months recovering from the accident in Christchurch Hospital.

Villagers protest
The Phantom crash has caused a storm of protest from villagers in Norfolk, reports the New Zealand Press Association. The member of Parliament for South-West Norfolk, Mr P. Hawkins, has been told that hundreds of villagers are being endangered by low-level flights around Downham Market, and a petition calling for an end to the flights has been opened. Mr Hawkins is compiling a list of complaints to send to the R.A.F. Undersecretary.

“This area is criss-crossed with high-tension cables, and crop-spraying planes are in the air very often which makes the situation even more hazardous,” he said.

The villagers said the R.A.F. aircraft were nearly “clipping the tops of the trees” in routine flights in the area.

“These planes have been coming over two or three times a week, and I am very, deeply concerned about the safety of my parishioners,” said the Rev. J. Beloe, vicar of Fordham, in whose parish the accident occurred.

“Could see pilot”
“The plane that crashed was so low that my son could see the pilot. This was about two seconds before the accident, when the plane was flying between my church and the vicarage, a distance of about 300 yards.

“The plane was just getting over the top of some 80ft high lime trees.”

If the R.A.F. pilot had changed slightly his course; or altitude in the collision; he would have ploughed into one of two nearby villages, Mr Beloe said.