NAC's first Boeing 737 pilots

[Dave Homewood]

Are any of the 17 pilots sent by National Airways Corporation to the United States to be converted to the new Boeing 737 at the Boeing facility still alive today? These are the names announced in The Press on the 18th of November 1967:

Captains
K. G. Bond (Christchurch)
P. J. Buck (Christchurch)
D. Gale (Wellington)
S. R. Carleton (Wellington)
M. D. Cullinane (Wellington)
N. D. Freeman (Christchurch)
A. C. Kening, flight operations manager (Wellington)
R. T. Mounsey (Auckland) I believe that Tom Mounsey is dead
A. G. Osborne (Auckland)
J. T. Priestly (Auckland)
W. E. Schrader (Wellington) Warren Schrader is dead
J. R. Layton (Christchurch)
J. D. Miller (Wellington)
R. J. Montrowe (Auckland) Roy Montrowe is dead
V. C. Mygind (Auckland)
D. S. P Smith (Auckland), and
D. M Thomas (Wellington).

For training in New Zealand: Captains A. L. Baggott (Auckland) and E. P. M. Dowd (Wellington).

[davidd]

I would say that majority (if not all) the above pilots were ex RNZAF. A. C. (Alan) Kening should have two "n's" in name. I have met D M (Dave) Thomas, purchased a car off him! He retired in Christchurch, think he is also dead.

[planewriting]

I have conferred with NAC Captain Bill Howell (retired). He and I are both pretty certain all those men are now deceased. I have added all their first names and corrected the spelling of Priestly. Also Peter Buck's initials are P J O Buck (not P J Buck).

They are: Ken Bond, Peter Buck (initials are actually P J O Buck), David Gale, Rus Carleton, Maurie Cullinane, Neville Freeman, Alan Kenning, Tom Mounsey, Ozzy Osborne, Jack Priestley, Warren Schrader, Jack Layton, Drum Miller, Roy Montrowe, Clive Mygind, Doug Smith, Dave Thomas, Andy Baggott and Shem Dowd.

Bill Howell also confirms that Ken Bond, Peter Buck and David Gale were instructors who had received training in Seattle.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks David and Peter. I guess I won't be interviewing any of them about their experiences training in Seattle and introducing the 737 to service then.

[planewriting]

Mar 27, 2023 16:34:57 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Thanks David and Peter. I guess I won't be interviewing any of them about their experiences training in Seattle and introducing the 737 to service then.

Umm - no, I guess not. I was wondering why you were wanting the details.

[chinapilot]

All the Seattle trained pilots have long gone unfortunately.

Brian Souter was one of the first FOs on the type but didn't train in Seattle.

He wrote about the introduction of the 737 in a recent AHSNZ 'Aero Historian'.
He and the AHSNZ Patron are a few of the 737 pilots at the time still with us, but mostly in their 80s.
A few gather at the North Shore Aero Club for refreshments on a Sunday afternoon.
I last saw Andy Baggott in Lagos in the early '80s.

As an aside, I'm fairly sure Dave Thomas was RNZAF in the Pacific.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Ian.

[planewriting]

Apr 2, 2023 16:04:52 GMT 12 chinapilot said:

All the Seattle trained pilots have long gone unfortunately.

Brian Souter was one of the first FOs on the type but didn't train in Seattle.

He wrote about the introduction of the 737 in a recent AHSNZ 'Aero Historian'.
He and the AHSNZ Patron are a few of the 737 pilots at the time still with us, but mostly in their 80s.
A few gather at the North Shore Aero Club for refreshments on a Sunday afternoon.
I last saw Andy Baggott in Lagos in the early '80s.

As an aside, I'm fairly sure Dave Thomas was RNZAF in the Pacific.

Brian Souter is still alive.

The AHSNZ Patron is Captain Brian Dunn. He was co-pilot on Viscount ZK-BWO on 17 February 1963 when it did a ferry flight to Christchurch after its spectacular Rongotai over-run two days earlier. He told me years ago they did the ferry flight on only three engines. Coincidentally, the captain on the over-run flight was Captain Andy Baggott referred to above as seen in Laos in the 1980s. Brian Dunn's other claim to fame occurred on 28 September 1975, again in ZK-BWO, he commanded the very last scheduled NAC Viscount service, also from Wellington to Christchurch. 

Referring to the opening topic about the original Boeing captains which trained in Seattle; although they are all deceased, Captain D. S. P Smith lived to be 100 and I think he is the only NAC pilot (so far) to do so.

[davidd]

Yes, Dave Thomas completed two Pacific tours with 23 Squadron. Another Pacific fighter pilot who flew with NAC (and on 737s I believe) was A M (Max) Davis, who sadly died quite a long time ago; he flew with 15 Sqdn (1st, 2nd and 3rd tours), then test pilot on newly assembled F4Us @ E/Santo, and completed his RNZAF career by flying on 1st and 2nd tours with 23 Squadron (the original "Ghosts"). So five full tours, a pretty busy time of it - only a tiny number of F pilots (maybe two?) managed to complete 6 full tours.

[chinapilot]

davidd - thanks for that. Dave was actually on my interview panel for NAC, and I think it clinched it when we started chatting about locations in Bougainville and New Ireland etc, of which he still had a clear memory.

Doug Probert was another NAC pilot who was on Corsairs and later in his NAC career flew the 737.

[chinapilot]

Apr 2, 2023 17:00:47 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Thanks Ian.

Dave - all the pilots mentioned are very approachable - the two Brians live in Wellington and Bill in Auckland.