I recall Adastra having a couple of aircraft based at Tauranga. Two Aero Commander Snow's, I believe. There were three James Aviation Fletchers based there for many years flown by Dave Cohu, Rod Dahlberg and Derrick Williams. I managed a couple of rides with these gentlemen and years later finally flew ag in Fletchers in Australia. I also lived next to Hamilton airport for some time when there must have been 20 Fletchers based there. You could hear them all depart at dawn and return late afternoon. Busy times for Robertson Air Services.
I'm an admin for a Fletcher FU-24 fan page on Facebook, I'll get this video on there and I'd be very surprised if the membership can't ID the accident aircraft, pilot and location in short order. This is an amazing find! There are a lot of folks who would love to see all the topdressing material.
Hi Zac - don't worry, we'll get it all sorted out for your viewing pleasure in good time :-). I'll be in touch in a little while. Let me know (via email) if you're going to Masterton for WoW.
Yes thanks. We know the gear is out there, it's just a matter of what film we have and whether it's worth the expense of getting it converted. For example, some of the reels we have, we know are already in the offical archives here, so there's no need to re-digitize as they're already preserved.
Appears to be ZK-BIZ,mainly flown by Bruce Oliver out of Hamilton.The accident appears to be just the oleo becoming detached,quite a common problem on the early Fletchers.ZK-BHW in the flying sequence,was flown by Garry Toulson from new in 1955 until the late '50s.He only had one Fletcher from '55 until around 1958,and operated in the Bay of Plenty,South Waikato and King Country.BHW & BIZ were written off 1959.
Is it possible that footage was used as some sort of sample or teaching aid and ended up in multiple places that way? Since the one with only 2 frames is mixed in with other Top Dressing aircraft footage the whole lot might be related and someone just had a little miscue when the copies were being struck? If not then that is an absolute ripper of a coincidence!! Whatever the case thank you for showing it, its excellent.
I have about 1/2 of old top dressing in the whitemans valley upper hut with the Auster crop duster Ag …. May be the only film of this aircraft working. I like to send the 8 mm film to historians in NZ so that they can copy the film and let all of us in NZ enjoy.
I have 30 minutes of Clude Steaferson flying his Auster, the only ones in NZ now gone back sold to the UK. I need to get this old 8 mm film into safety please all from 1965 to 1972
Yes, thanks. Both the hardware, and the services (if you don't own your own hardware), are relatively expensive, so we just have to be careful about what footage we get converted. There's no point in getting something done if it's merely a copy of something that already exists in the official archives.
I recall Adastra having a couple of aircraft based at Tauranga. Two Aero Commander Snow's, I believe. There were three James Aviation Fletchers based there for many years flown by Dave Cohu, Rod Dahlberg and Derrick Williams.
I managed a couple of rides with these gentlemen and years later finally flew ag in Fletchers in Australia.
I also lived next to Hamilton airport for some time when there must have been 20 Fletchers based there. You could hear them all depart at dawn and return late afternoon. Busy times for Robertson Air Services.
at whakatane we had owen hunter flying a snow and russ howell a 300 , my intro to ag flying
Wow thank you for all your hard work in persevering nz aviation history and sharing
Many thanks!
Thanks for the channel and helping preserve history.
Thanks for watching!
History preserved good job.
I'm an admin for a Fletcher FU-24 fan page on Facebook, I'll get this video on there and I'd be very surprised if the membership can't ID the accident aircraft, pilot and location in short order.
This is an amazing find! There are a lot of folks who would love to see all the topdressing material.
Hi Zac - don't worry, we'll get it all sorted out for your viewing pleasure in good time :-). I'll be in touch in a little while. Let me know (via email) if you're going to Masterton for WoW.
Look up a guy named George Mihal (also the name of his RUclips channel). He digitized all formats of old film frame by frame in HD.
Yes thanks. We know the gear is out there, it's just a matter of what film we have and whether it's worth the expense of getting it converted. For example, some of the reels we have, we know are already in the offical archives here, so there's no need to re-digitize as they're already preserved.
Appears to be ZK-BIZ,mainly flown by Bruce Oliver out of Hamilton.The accident appears to be just the oleo becoming detached,quite a common problem on the early Fletchers.ZK-BHW in the flying sequence,was flown by Garry Toulson from new in 1955 until the late '50s.He only had one Fletcher from '55 until around 1958,and operated in the Bay of Plenty,South Waikato and King Country.BHW & BIZ were written off 1959.
Hey, thanks for that info. If you're able to pm me at admin@aviationfilm.com that would be great.
I didn't realise the Fletcher was that old.
Is it possible that footage was used as some sort of sample or teaching aid and ended up in multiple places that way? Since the one with only 2 frames is mixed in with other Top Dressing aircraft footage the whole lot might be related and someone just had a little miscue when the copies were being struck?
If not then that is an absolute ripper of a coincidence!!
Whatever the case thank you for showing it, its excellent.
It's possible, but neither of the film reels appear to be 'commercial' in any sense of the word. We'll do some more digging and investigation.
@@HistAvFilmUnit Well the fact there are multiple copies makes it unlikely its just a bit of home movie, there's got to be some reason for them.
I have about 1/2 of old top dressing in the whitemans valley upper hut with the Auster crop duster Ag …. May be the only film of this aircraft working.
I like to send the 8 mm film to historians in NZ so that they can copy the film and let all of us in NZ enjoy.
Please send us a private email to admin@aviationfilm.com
I have 30 minutes of Clude Steaferson flying his Auster, the only ones in NZ now gone back sold to the UK. I need to get this old 8 mm film into safety please all from 1965 to 1972
Flick us an email to admin@aviationfilm.com
There are proper digitizers for film on the market
Yes, thanks. Both the hardware, and the services (if you don't own your own hardware), are relatively expensive, so we just have to be careful about what footage we get converted. There's no point in getting something done if it's merely a copy of something that already exists in the official archives.
what is "top dressing" ? thanks in advance.
looks like pesticide application aircraft
@@DumbledoreMcCracken Thanks!
The application of agricultural fertilisers via aircraft. That's what it's called in New Zealand, anyway!
@@HistAvFilmUnit thanks for answering. that was a new one for me.
7:17 cat n can.
Move the mic closer
????
@@HistAvFilmUnit Hard to hear you.