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Post by thomarse on Oct 29, 2022 10:05:43 GMT 12
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Post by FlyingKiwi on Oct 29, 2022 12:03:11 GMT 12
Maybe they mean it came from China rather than was actually a Chinese built aircraft? Although I think most cropdusting in China is done with AN-2s and their Chinese built derivatives.
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Post by delticman on Oct 29, 2022 13:53:54 GMT 12
Maybe they mean it came from China rather than was actually a Chinese built aircraft? Although I think most cropdusting in China is done with AN-2s and their Chinese built derivatives. Chinese ag aircraft have been, AN2. GA-200 and PL12/400 from Australia, PZL M-18B from Poland, AT-402B. AT-802 and S2RH80 from USA. I dont think any are actively flying these days. A few years back the Chinese has Australasians flying the US built aircraft. Mostly they just get covered in brown dust. There have been P-750's fitted out as ag machines but they have never worked. As for Peter Harker, well I dont know. |
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Post by The Red Baron on Oct 30, 2022 13:16:45 GMT 12
Interesting,it looks like the obituary was lifted from a magazine article on the net from some years ago...I would guess the bamboo bomber was a Piper Cub,they were used a lot in deer recovery..  |
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Post by angelsonefive on Oct 30, 2022 21:13:11 GMT 12
Peter Harker was co-author of a book published in 1976.
I have copied a couple of extracts from an ad. on the internet :
Hunting with Harker
Harker, Peter and Eunson, Keith
$38.00
Reed, 1976. Some shelf wear and fading. Fading and scratches to DW.
Peter Harker, still in his mid-thirties, has had what most people would reckon to be a lifetime’s experience in the horrendous bush-and-mountains country of South Westland. It was the hunting that drew him there in the first instance, but the Lands & Survey Department were quick to enlist the help of a man with an unparalleled knowledge of the remote and virtually uninhabited mountain terrain; overseas manufacturers of hunting weapons and equipment induced him to field-test their products under the uniquely adverse conditions of the Coast; but meat-hunting, safari work and live game capture were his primary occupations
And :
The pros and cons of meat-hunting are only one small facet of this book; another of immense practical value to any hunter who is tempted to take on the special hazards of South Westland is the appendix of “Harker’s Handy Hints” — shrewd advice distilled from years of adaptation to the fickle climate, the treacherous rivers, and the savage mountain terrain. But the main body of this book is the recall of the field years - shooting, flying, climbing, photography, guiding, survey work, live-game capture, the comedies and near-tragedies, the fun and companionship of young men pitted against the wildest environment of all New Zealand. The 124 photographs and the cover picture are all from Peter Harker’s cameras. They vividly complement a hunting record of unequalled interest and appeal...
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Post by madmax on Oct 31, 2022 0:02:31 GMT 12
Given that Peter Harker flew, it appears, on the South Island's west coast and it is claimed was involved in venison recovery and aerial top dressing and is reputed to have crashes 3 aircraft, I am surprised that not one of this forums 7000 members, a significant proportion of whom have been in, or are actively seeking involved with aviation, have revealed they knew him.
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Post by NZ1009 on Oct 31, 2022 7:55:15 GMT 12
I knew about him initially from his weekly "Hunting with Harker"
columns that used to appear in a Christchurch newspaper
(the Star Sports?) in the 1960s when I was interested in
hunting. I also have a few of his books, unfortunately not
immediately available, and in one of these he writes about
the aircraft he obtained from China and flew while living
in Westport. He was never involved in aerial topdressing as
far as I recall but was involved in venison recovery using
light aircraft and in the initial use of helicopters (with
Goodwin McNutt and a Fairchild Hiller FH1100).
When I get access to my books in a month or so I will update this
thread with details/photos of the aircraft he obtained from China.
He was a prominent identity within the hunting world in the 1960s.
As to why he is not well known within the aviation fraternity I
would suggest it is because there was a lot of venison recovery
aviation activity on the West Coast in the 1960s that, at the time,
went unreported. Since then a number of books have become available
documenting some of what went on.
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Post by thomarse on Oct 31, 2022 17:57:27 GMT 12
Given that Peter Harker flew, it appears, on the South Island's west coast and it is claimed was involved in venison recovery and aerial top dressing and is reputed to have crashes 3 aircraft, I am surprised that not one of this forums 7000 members, a significant proportion of whom have been in, or are actively seeking involved with aviation, have revealed they knew him. I'm with mm on this one. I thought I had a reasonable knowledge of who the meat hunters were and their antics, but the aircraft from China, the reputed accidents, the aircraft "he built himself" and the "lost his licence for life" are all news to me. It would seem they're news to Google as well Where's baronbeeza? It's in his patch |
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Post by chinapilot on Nov 1, 2022 0:28:11 GMT 12
I was living and flying on the West Coast from mid ‘66 -‘70.
Plenty of characters around in mostly Cubs but never heard of this guy.
Unfortunately, Mike Bennett who would have known, has passed on.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 1, 2022 8:14:01 GMT 12
Is it possible he wrote under a pseudonym and was known to everyone in aviation by a different name?
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Post by thomarse on Nov 1, 2022 9:09:46 GMT 12
Is it possible he wrote under a pseudonym and was known to everyone in aviation by a different name? That's possible Dave, but I'm mystified as much as anything by the tall tales of building aircraft from bits and having them fall apart in the air-and Chinese topdressing aircraft! As madmax said, someone on here would know! |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 1, 2022 9:12:39 GMT 12
I have not read much in the way of NZ hunting books, only a few of Barry Crump's old 1960s books years ago, but I wonder if it was the style to embellish a few tall stories into the narrative, as Crumpy did?
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Post by angelsonefive on Nov 1, 2022 10:09:58 GMT 12
If the Bamboo Bomber existed it was not likely to have come from " China " IMO.
Back in the era we are discussing Communist China was a " closed shop " as far as the West was concerned.
However, back then Hong Kong was British territory and post WW2 the RAF and the British Army Air Corps would have had a good number of Auster communications and AOP aircraft based in Hong Kong. In the course of time some of these aircraft would probably be scrapped or offered for sale.
So my theory for the day is, if there was a Bamboo Bomber it was an Auster ex Hong Kong.
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Post by thomarse on Nov 1, 2022 11:28:22 GMT 12
Are you familiar with any of the described "incidents" angelsonefive? I'm certainly not.
I'm trying to decide whether I'm interested enough to email the Journo who wrote this...
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Post by madmax on Nov 1, 2022 12:48:35 GMT 12
Thomarse,in this instance I suspect the jurno has had the wool pulled over his eyes just as Peter Harker has done to the readers of his so-called exploits.
Me thinks it's all b/s
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Post by Dave Homewood on Nov 1, 2022 12:54:10 GMT 12
Back in the era we are discussing Communist China was a " closed shop " as far as the West was concerned. That was also my thoughts. But what about the Republic of China/Chinese Taipei/Taiwan, that country was open to the west for trading, wasn't it, back then? Just another possibility. |
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Post by shorty on Nov 1, 2022 14:05:51 GMT 12
Wasn't the Cessna UC-78known as the "Bamboo Bomber"? There were two of them here which made there way on to the Civvie register
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Post by angelsonefive on Nov 1, 2022 14:40:20 GMT 12
Wasn't the Cessna UC-78known as the "Bamboo Bomber"? There were two of them here which made there way on to the Civvie register Yes, probably because part of the airframe was made of wood. There were two of them in NZ as far as I know during WW2. They were operated by the US Embassy here. At the end of the war they were purchased by the NZ Govt for use by the Air Dept. They were put on the civil aircraft register as you say, but were found to be in poor condition and were subsequently scrapped. |
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Post by angelsonefive on Nov 1, 2022 14:55:50 GMT 12
Are you familiar with any of the described "incidents" angelsonefive? I'm certainly not. I'm trying to decide whether I'm interested enough to email the Jouno who wrote this... No, sorry, none of this saga rings any bells with me. I was hoping that the civil air accident records for the 1960's, 70's and 80's in the NZ Archives might have an entry for one at least of the alleged crashes, but the new format of the NZ Archive website has defeated me so far. |
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Post by davidd on Nov 1, 2022 15:36:41 GMT 12
Neither of the two Cessna aircraft (UC-78s) purchased by the NZ Air Department in 1948 were ever operated by the United States Embassy in NZ. They were purchased by the aforementioned NZ Govt department from USAAF surplus stocks in Fiji (probably at Nadi) and were shipped to NZ, but unfortunately for our Government, they had (very carelessly) NOT sent a qualified aircraft engineer to check out the condition of these two "bargains" before completing the deal. They were both considered to be "write offs" when inspected on assembly in New Zealand, their wooden wings (and tail surfaces?) having suffered extensive damage due to water ingress during their time in Fiji. They were therefore "struck off", as nobody by then was interested in ordering new wings, etc., for them, and their engines and props were considered the only things worth retaining. (Possibly confusion in previous post with the Beechcraft UC-45 ("Twin Beech"), which WAS used by the Air Attache in New Zealand in 1945, based at Wellington I think.)
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