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Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2010

Top Dressing In Upper Takaka

page 28
Loading Tiger Moth ZK AJH on the Harwood’s first air strip at Upper Takaka.

Loading Tiger Moth ZK AJH on the Harwood’s first air strip at Upper Takaka.

The loader truck is a former Air Force Bedford truck, known as a Queen Mary. It was originally built as an articulated truck, designed to recover crashed aircraft fuselages. Harwood Photo.

page 29

Top Dressing
In Upper Takaka

“We believed it was not windy. Sure, we could see the branches of the trees were swaying, but Snow had told us that this was not too windy for aerial top-dressing operations...”The first top-dressing machine we used was a horse- drawn, two-wheeled box model, with a wheel-driven star-type, distribution cam. On inaccessible areas and hill country, the superphosphate was carted uphill with a packhorse and then sown by hand from a top- dressing bag, slung over our shoulders. About 1940 the two-wheeled box model was modified so that the Allis Chalmers wheel tractor could pull it.

Lime (calcium carbonate) in one hundredweight bags (50.8kg), were towed on a trailer up the hill with a McCormick T20 crawler tractor. The bags were emptied onto a steel tray and the lime was thrown onto the pasture with a shovel. The lime was supplied by Jim Newport’s lime works at the end of Pigville Gully Road, West Takaka. This lime was 99% calcium carbonate.

To speed things up, a Munro top-dresser was purchased in 1947 and was fitted onto a two tonne trailer. The top-dresser was 4.2m wide, so it had to be dismantled every time it was to be taken through a gate. A home-made self-feeder was attached to the top-dresser, so 250kg of lime could be sown at a time.

On the hill country, the crawler tractor pulled the trailer, which had a blower fitted to it. With five tonne of lime and with the blower loaded onto a Commer truck, lime was spread downhill from the Takaka Hill Road. During daylight hours a draft blows downhill, so with the initial page 30
Tiger Moth ZK AJH taxiing for takeoff at Upper Takaka. Children in the fore-ground enjoying the action at the fuel and oil dump. Harwood Photo.

Tiger Moth ZK AJH taxiing for takeoff at Upper Takaka. Children in the fore-ground enjoying the action at the fuel and oil dump. Harwood Photo.

blower blast, the lime was effectively carried downhill. We had to be careful when standing on the road and touching the truck, as static electricity from the blower would give you a good belt. During the 1950s trace elements were added to the top-dressing. These were not specifically prescribed elements for our land and were probably of no signif- icant benefit.

About 1952 aerial top-dressing commenced in Upper Takaka with a De Havilland (DH) Tiger Moth. This was the first aerial top-dressing in Golden Bay. The aircraft had a slow flying speed of about 80mph (128.75kph) and they could carry five hundredweight (254kg) of fertilizer at a time. This use of aircraft

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totally transformed hill country top- dressing and brought significant gains in pasture growth.

Snow Gatehouse in the early 1960s. Photo courtesy Lance Gatehouse.

Snow Gatehouse in the early 1960s. Photo courtesy Lance Gatehouse.

In 1949 Aerial Work Marlborough (AWM) was formed by Lance (Snow) Gatehouse, a former De Havilland aircraft mechanic, RNZAF Pacific fighter pilot and flight instructor at the Marlborough Aero Club. The company was financed by Bluff Station’s owner, James Anderson Chaffey, and Bluff Station’s headman, Les Roberts. The Bluff Station, located up the Clarence River, was inaccessible and aircraft access was the solution. Ex- Battle of Britain pilot Bill Parker was the Company Secretary. They used a DH 83Fox Moth ZK APT to fly food and supplies to Bluff Station.

The most ambitious object airlifted in was a Massey Ferguson tractor, which had been disassembled. The large tyres were folded and bound with No. 8 wire, to fit inside the aircraft.

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AWM commenced commercial flying in 1950 with an ex-RNZAF DH 82 Tiger Moth ZK AJH. Their first top-dressing job in the Nelson province was at Norm Parkes’ farm in 88 Valley during 1951.1 These pioneers of aerial top-dressing relied on progressive farmers to try this new and promising method of applying fertilizer to hill pasture. High wool prices during this period, as a result of demand for woollen materials during the Korean War, meant that farmers had money to use for aerial top-dressing. This windfall from wool returns assisted the develop- page 32
Arthur Harwood loading the loader bucket from a truck deck, stacked with 80kg sacks of superphosphate. Harwood photo.

Arthur Harwood loading the loader bucket from a truck deck, stacked with 80kg sacks of superphosphate. Harwood photo.

ment of the aerial top-dressing industry. Following a visit by my father, Arthur Harwood, and I to see the aerial top- dressing at Parkes’ farm, we decided to try it on our hill country at Upper Takaka.

The boss of AWM, Snow Gatehouse, visited us and explained the standard of airstrip required, how to select the best site and what wind conditions were acceptable. After inspecting our proposed airstrip and others in Golden Bay, he said that if his pilots would not fly off those strips, he would fly the job himself. He explained that you could not operate in a gale, but he thought aerial top-dressing would be a piece of cake in Golden Bay.

Jimmy Hayter accompanied Snow on these initial visits as Aerial Work Marlborough’s, Nelson and Golden Bay agent. Jimmy had been a World War II fighter ace for the RAF, with 535 sorties to his credit, and had been awarded the DFC for bravery. Jimmy, who was from Rocklands, knew Golden Bay well and, given his flying background and local knowledge, he was probably invaluable in assessing the airstrip locations.

Tim Archibold operating the loader. Harwood photo.

Tim Archibold operating the loader. Harwood photo.

Superphosphate arrived in 80kg sacks and was stored in sheds on the farm. We made a loading stage on the day at the airstrip by placing heavy timber on top of 44-gallon drums, and the sacks of superphosphate were stacked on top of it. We filled the loader bucket, which was attached to the front of a truck, from the loading stage, or from the Commer and Austin truck decks. We used DDT for Porina grass grub control, page 33 and half a small tin can was put into each planeload from 44-gallon drums, which gave effective control.

Larry Zampese, 1944 No. 4 Squadron D Flight Course 578 Harewood, RNZAF pilots in training. Photo courtesy Airforce Museum of New Zealand.

Larry Zampese, 1944 No. 4 Squadron D Flight Course 578 Harewood, RNZAF pilots in training. Photo courtesy Airforce Museum of New Zealand.

The first time the plane came to fly on our farm, the pilot was Ilario (Larry) Zampese. Larry was originally born in Conco Italy, immigrated as a child with his Italian parents and siblings, to New Zealand.2 His family settled in Greymouth.3 He was educated in Greymouth and during WWII in 1944, he trained as a pilot for the RNZAF. At the end of the War, he served in the occupation force of Japan, where he visited the destruction of Hiroshima.4 After the war he rejoined the Air force. For a while he flew passen- ger planes in Australia. In 1950 he worked as a top dressing pilot for Airwork (NZ) Ltd for a short period, before taking up a Blenheim based job flying for AWM.5 He had also been training to be a Roman Catholic priest. He did not complete his training, as he had taken a natural interest in females.

Larry had phoned us from Nelson and asked if it was windy in Upper Takaka? We believed it was not windy. Sure, we could see the branches of the trees were swaying, but Snow had told us that this was not too windy for aerial top-dressing operations. Larry told us to light a fire when he arrived, so he could see which way the smoke was drifting, as a plane had never used the airstrip and he wanted to get everything right.

We went to the airstrip and prepared a heap of wood for a fire. When the Tiger Moth came over the Takaka Hill we page 34 attempted to light the fire, but the air was moving so fast that we could not even light the paper. When we eventually got it going, the smoke went straight along the ground. The Tiger Moth circled the airstrip once and then headed back over the Takaka Hill. We could not understand why he had not landed, having been told that the wind was not an issue and that the airstrip was perfect. A while later Larry rang our home saying “Are you trying to kill me? Is there a hedge around your house? That was a gale! I will ring you tomorrow morning”.

Next morning the day was calm and Larry landed, and our education about what was a suitable airstrip began. Unlike modern planes, which can cope with quite strong winds, the wind speed acceptable for a Tiger Moth was very low. We also discovered that the airstrip had a few ploughing ridges, which proved very bumpy for takeoffs and landings. Snow had played on our ignorance to secure our aerial top-dressing business.

Larry Zampese and truck driver, Tim Archibold, had brought a caravan to sleep in, but they did not need to use it as Mum put them up in our house. One day when the wind was blowing, Larry asked us if we would like to have a look through the caravan. We accepted and he showed us the cooking equipment, how the beds and table folded down, and all the cupboards and drawers.

The whole job took about three to four days of flying. In the evenings we would chat about flying with Larry and Tim, who had learnt to fly after the war. They would recount their flying experiences, including close shaves. I particularly remember Larry as an excitable but likeable Italian, who had a strong faith in religion. One day I saw him get very animated with the truck driver for putting control locks in his tail and wing control surfaces without telling him. The more excited he got, the more high pitched his voice became.

One St Patrick’s Day the local Catholic priest arrived at the airstrip, as Larry had phoned him. Dad started talking with the priest and when Larry landed for another load he yelled out to Dad “Look what St Patrick has bought us, Arthur”!

Larry left AWM and flew for Aer Lingus in Ireland, where he flew pilgrims between Ireland and Rome. He later completed his priest training in Italy and was ordained in his birth place, the Northern Italian town of Conco, on April 25, 1962. Following his ordination he served as a priest in Westport and Palmerston North. Eventually he returned to flying as a missionary pilot in Papua New Guinea, where he was killed, near Sassoia, in a plane crash on June 30, 1967.6 He was aged 42 when he died. It is interesting to observe that there were many agricultural pilots that came to Golden Bay, but Larry was particularly well remembered on account of his personality.

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In recent times, with the advent of bulk fertilizer supplies, we have used bulk top-dresser trucks to fertilize the flats. We have also built an airstrip on the schist country on top of the Takaka Hill and constructed super storage bins there. Today, an airstrip high on a ridge between Sugar Loaf and Hailes Knob is used and modern turbo prop aircraft like a Pacific Aerospace P750 XTOL can carry 1,905kg at speeds of 259kph. Incidentally, AWM’s first DH 82 Tiger Moth ZK AJH is now privately owned and is currently being restored at Omaka in Marlborough.

Sources

1 Per com Snow Gatehouse 20 January 2010, Blenheim. Ken Wright.
2 Retrieved from http://rete.comuni-italiani.it/wiki/Conco/Lapidi_sul_ Municipio
3 From Greymouth To Italy-much-travelled former pilot ordained soon.Greymouth newspaper article, April 1962. Sourced from Deacon Lou Zampese (Larry’s nephew) Hamilton.
4 Sound Archives Nga Taonga Korero DAT33 Tks42-43 J Force-Hiroshima(Larry Zampese).
5 The Topdressers 1990. Janic Geelen & Ray Deerness ISBN 0-9597642 2 4 (NB No Page numbers)
6 Retrieved from www.pprune.org