zkdex
Squadron Leader
Posts: 101
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Post by zkdex on May 22, 2018 16:39:14 GMT 12
I recall a scrub fire on the hills above Naenae, Lower Hutt, late 60's or very early 70's, where there was a strange looking aircraft dropping a red concoction (which, thanks to my years in forestry, I discovered was a mixture of retardant - probably Firetrol, and water). All I recall of the aircraft was that it was rather ugly, and had a red and white checker pattern. There could have been more than one operating.
With time I realsied that the aircraft concerned was an Airtruk, most likely owned by Air Contracts Ltd, Masterton. What I'd like to know is where would they were flying from? Trips to and from Masterton would take too long...could they have flown off a strip over the hill in Whitemans Valley? Perhaps they used the gliding club field at the start of Whitemans Valley?
Of course, once Peter Button got Capital Helicopters off the ground (excuse the pun), all our local fires were attacked by rotary wing aircraft with monsoon buckets. That was always gauranteed to draw a crowd!
Ron
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Post by johnm on May 22, 2018 16:46:06 GMT 12
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Post by thomarse on May 22, 2018 20:58:19 GMT 12
If you're talking about a blaze behind the old Silverstream Hospital, it was an Airtruk of Air Contracts CJS from memory, flown by Ted Penney. It operated out of Trentham Racecourse.
On a later occasion two Agwagons of Associated Farmers were used, again out of Trentham, on a blaze on the Wallaceville Hill. Also from memory DRZ and DPX
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Post by madmax on May 23, 2018 1:21:38 GMT 12
Have an idea that Paul Legg did some water dropping trials on Rongotai with an Airlift Tiger in the mid/late 50s and also dropped water on a fire somewhere in the Hutt Valley of Wainui. The Tiger would have been ZK-BEY
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zkdex
Squadron Leader
Posts: 101
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Post by zkdex on May 23, 2018 13:42:20 GMT 12
Yes, the ugly aircraft was the Airtruk! And thanks for the indications as to where it may have been flying from. I don't have an exact date, but I'm fairly sure it was late 1960's.
Thanks to the Forest and Rural Fires Association of New Zealand (FRFANZ), Janic Geelen's book 'The Topdressers' and Don Stafford's book 'Flying The Thermal Skies', a potted early history of fixed wing aircraft and fires in New Zealand follows.
Trials using aircraft dropping water on burning vegetation were started in the mid 1950's, not by the Forest Service or by fire brigades, but by the Soil Conservation & Rivers Control Council. Canterbury trials were run in January 1956 using a Taylorcraft and Tiger Moth owned by Auster Air Services Ltd. Rotorua trials were run in November 1956, followed by further trials in April 1957. Both these sets of trials used DHC2 Beaver aircraft from James Aviation Ltd.
A decade later, the Forest Service got round to doing some of their own trials. At Palmerston North in 1968 they used a DC3, at Golden Downs in 1969 they tried Piper (Pawnee I guess) aircraft.
Adastra Aviation Ltd used one of their aircraft (I believe Snow S2D ZK-CPK) on a fire near Mount Maunganui (Jan 1970), followed up by Air Contracts Ltd using an aircraft on that fire at Silverstream (6th Mar 1970). Apparently both Adastra and Air Contracts were trying to impress the NZ Forest Service as to the effectiveness of fixed wing aircraft fighting fires. The Forest Service was NOT impressed, and anyway the era of monsoon buckets being carried by helicopters was just around the corner. It would be decades before fixed wing aircraft were really used in anger in New Zealand.
Further contributions to this short history most welcome...dates, locations and aircraft details...
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Post by exkiwiforces on May 23, 2018 14:47:10 GMT 12
Are those two books that you mentioned still available to buy?
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zkdex
Squadron Leader
Posts: 101
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Post by zkdex on May 24, 2018 18:10:57 GMT 12
I'm not sure about the availability of either book. I bought them new in 1983. Both books have a wealth of information valid up until that time, so if you can get copies second hand, they would be worth having.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on May 24, 2018 21:03:23 GMT 12
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