Former Queenstown-based Southern Scenic Air Services promoted its Milford flight as the ‘‘Gateway to Magnificence’’. Ahead of celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the licensing of Milford Sound’s airport, Philip Chandler looks back on how one of the world’s great flight-seeing experiences developed, and next week recounts more recent goings-on.
If you are on a Queenstown Events Centre sports field late in the day, you’ll often be bombarded by a series of low-flying light aircraft.
For those not in the know, they are Cessnas and the like returning from flight-seeing trips to Milford Sound.
Next Friday, the 70th anniversary of the first proving flight to Milford — in de Havilland DH89 Dominie ZK-AKY Tui — is being marked by a Queenstown reunion of former pilots and engineers.
And if the weather permits, Tui — remarkably still kept airworthy near Gore by the Croydon Aviation Heritage Trust— will take off for a re-enactment flight. (Originally built for Britain’s air force during World War2, it joined New Zealand’s air force in 1943.)
Under Captain Frank Molloy, the first proving flight took off on July 10, 1956, from Hokitika, where NZ National Airways Corporation (NAC) had been operating Dominies for over 10 years.
Queenstown-based Southern Scenic Air Services had originally invested in a basic 550-yard airstrip in Milford.
On May 31, 1952, co-founders Fred ‘‘Popeye’’ Lucas and Barry Topliss landed an Auster.
Austers and Proctors, however, only carried two or three tourists at a time.
Prior to the 1956 proving flight, the airstrip was lengthened to take twin-engined craft, like the Dominie, with room for six to eight, including the pilot.
Sensing this strip would be a winner, Southern Scenic bought a Dominie from NAC in ’56, and acquired another three later that year.
‘‘They had flown in Europe and my father was also in Southeast Asia, so they had a good appreciation of what was tourist-appealing scenery.’’
Waugh senior was a good friend of pilot Brian Chadwick, whose charter flight from Christchurch, with four passengers onboard, would disappear in Fiordland mountains in 1962.
‘‘I remember my dad telling me he and Chadwick were convinced of the massive tourist potential of the lower South Island — Chadwick, especially, knew Milford was the jewel in the crown.’’
Though the Dominies were a great warhorse, Rev Dr Waugh said they had limited abilities on one engine, and trouble maintaining height when they were loaded.
In 1967, his father, flying visitors back from Te Anau in a Dominie, had one of its engines seize up and the other give less-than-normal power, so on landing in Queenstown he over-shot the runway and crash-landed in the Shotover River.
Mr Sproull is full of admiration for the early Milford pilots.
‘‘Everything was new, nobody had cut any ground here, so every day would be an adventure.
‘‘It was all learning, like flying in those mountains, it’s quite a skill — reading the weather, knowing where the winds are coming from, the turbulence, the down drafts.
‘‘Every wind that comes in this area has a different flying trait.’’
Between today’s greater horsepower and enhanced safety, ‘‘there’s no comparison [with the early days], but they didn’t know any different’’.
Cromwell-based engineer Brad Lynton, who is 80 and still helps out Mr Sproull, has worked on Milford planes at Queenstown airport for 63 years — ‘‘I started on January 7, 1963’’.
He said the Dominies ‘‘only had low horsepower, like a couple of hundred horsepower each side, but they had a good safety record’’.
‘‘Communication wasn’t so good and they didn’t have the same forecasting in those days, so [pilots] didn’t really have a clue what was over the hill.’’
Another legendary pilot, Blenheim-based Rex Dovey, who is 87, joined Southern Scenic 65 years ago this month, replacing a pilot who had started having the odd blackout while flying.
He would often fly a Cessna to perform other aerial work during winter when there were few visitors around — Queenstown’s early-’60s attractions, he recalls, were the Earnslaw, Meteor hydrofoil and the Bottle House.
Mr Dovey left in mid-1966 — ‘‘I decided a pilot only lives on his medical, so I decided I’d do some engineering and get engineer’s licences, just in case’’.
He later notched up thousands more hours flying helicopters.
Meanwhile, Shane O’Hare, chief executive of Queenstown Airport, which is supporting next week’s commemoration, says it is a great opportunity to recognise the flight-seeing sector’s contribution to NZ’s tourism economy and visitor experience.
‘‘Developing an airstrip at Milford Sound was a bold move that made one of the most spectacular places on earth more accessible.
‘‘We’re proud to celebrate those who led the way.’’
