Call in the Commandos - Civil Air Transport's New Zealand Operation

75 years ago this month an unusual operation took to New Zealand's skies... This is the story of the CIA's airline which helped New Zealand in a time of industrial turmoil...

 

In 1951 the New Zealand watersiders went on strike crippling the country including the moving of freight between the North and South Islands. Wikipedia gives a good history of the dispute which lead to Formosa (Taiwan) based Civil Air Transport operating in New Zealand skies.

The strike had its origins in the Second World War due to labour shortages, watersiders and other workers worked long hours, often as much as 15-hour days. Following the war, working hours on the wharves continued to be high, with shipowners expecting up to 59 hours a week be worked. In the immediate post-war period, one of main the goals of the Waterside Workers' Union was to have a guaranteed weekly wage and a 40-hour, five day, work week between the hours of 8am and 5pm, without night or weekend overtime. The Waterside Workers' Union struggle led to criticism from the Federation of Labour that the union's actions might not be in the best interests of its members and posed a risk to the whole labour movement. 

In April 1950 the Waterside Workers' Union led a walk out of the FOL and set up their own Trade Union Congress, isolating themselves from the wider union movement. Shortly afterwards severe stoppages on the wharves occurred, infuriating most of the general population. In early September, Wellington watersiders refused to work a cargo of lamp-black, with this dispute eventually leading to watersiders at all ports stopping work. On 19 September, the government warned it would declare a state of emergency the following day if watersiders did not return to work the next morning. Late that evening, Labour Party leader Peter Fraser intervened and a deputation of union leaders met with Prime Minister Holland. Although a state of emergency existed between 20 September and 4 October while negotiations took place, this meeting opened the way to a settlement.

On 31 January 1951, the Arbitration Court issued a general wage order to increase wages by 15% for workers covered by the industrial arbitration system. The order took effect on 15 February 1951 but was backdated to awards as they stood at 7 May 1950, and cancelled a 5% interim wage order the court had previously issued in June 1950 that had taken effect from 8 May 1950. Awards for freezing workers and two other unions that had recently received "substantial increases" were excluded. In reaching its decision the Arbitration Court said it had to consider equity for workers, the stability of the New Zealand economy, terms of trade with Britain, as well as inflationary pressure. The compromise decision was recognised as inadequate by the unions' representative, while the employers' representative dissented, considering it inflationary.

The wage increase ordered by the Arbitration Court did not apply to waterside workers, whose employment was controlled by the Waterfront Industry Commission. The shipping companies that employed the watersiders instead offered 9%, the difference between the 6% wage increase that had previously been awarded to the watersiders after the interim wage order and the general wage order. The watersiders then refused to work overtime in protest, and the employers placed the men on a two-day penalty. The workers called it a lockout, the employers called it a strike. When the Waterside Workers' Union refused to accept arbitration, the government could make a stand on the principle of defending industrial law and order.

On 8 February 1951, in protest to the employers' wage offer, the Wellington and New Plymouth branches of the Waterside Workers Union unilaterally decided to impose overtime bans at their ports and asked other branches to do the same. The union executive met on 13 February to consider the responses from branches about the wage increase, and at 2 PM sent telegrams to all branches advising to impose an overtime ban from 5 PM. Upon being advised of this, the employers advised that if the overtime ban continued the next day then the workers would be stood down for two days as a penalty, and could only be eligible for work again on Saturday morning.

While workers at Auckland and Wellington were not asked to work overtime on 14 February due to Harbour Board employees at those ports holding meetings, workers at other ports were penalised for refusing overtime. On 15 February, workers at Auckland and Wellington ports also refused overtime and were penalised. The union claimed that the employers' actions were a lockout because while union members were willing to work 40 hours a week, the employers were only allowing them to work 16 hours a week. The Minister of Labour Bill Sullivan then invited representatives of both the union and employers to meet with him and the then Acting-Prime Minister Keith Holyoake on the morning of the 16th in an attempt to resolve the dispute.

The lockout was a major political issue of the time. The National government, led by Sidney Holland and the Minister of Labour Bill Sullivan, introduced heavy handed emergency regulations, and brought in the navy and army to work the wharves and also deregistered the Waterside Workers' Union under the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Under the emergency regulations Holland's government censored the press, made striking illegal, and even made it illegal to give money or food to either strikers or their families. The proclamations have been described as "the most illiberal legislation ever enacted in New Zealand".

In a surprise move, the FOL, which was supported by the majority of unions, backed the government. FOL President Fintan Patrick Walsh was of the opinion that the manner of the strike threatened the existing arbitration system necessitating their defeat. The watersiders held out for 22 weeks, supported by many other unions and sympathy strikers, but ultimately conceded defeat. The miners and seamen who held sympathy strikes were likewise beaten.

In those 22 weeks inter-island shipping ran aground and the Government was forced to look to move freight between the two islands. On the 7th of April 1951 the Christchurch Press reported that arrangements have been made to secure temporarily the services of three C-46 Curtiss Commando cargo-carrying aeroplanes from overseas to augment the rail-air service between Paraparaumu and Woodbourne. They will be used to carry the backlog of goods which has accumulated at both terminals since the present industrial trouble developed. They will also keep normal air-rail traffic moving until the Bristol Freighter service takes over in June. This information was given by the Genial Manager of Railways (Mr F. W. Aickin) this afternoon. Mr Aickin said the stage had been reached where the rail-air service could do little more than handle perishable goods and other really essential commodities. Assistance by Strait Air Freight, Ltd., to supply a modem-freight aircraft for the service had been accepted; but as the company’s Bristol Freighters - were not expected to be commissioned before June, endeavours had been made to secure aircraft which could meet the increased demand in the interim. Straits Air Freight, Ltd,, had now concluded arrangements to charter up to three C-46 Curtiss Commando aircraft from an overseas firm, and these aircraft were expected to arrive at Ohakea within the next few days. They would be put into service immediately. The aircraft each had a cargo capacity of 14,000lb. The main hold was 48ft long by 9ft 10in wide, giving a space of 2300 cubic feet. The aeroplanes had twice the cubic capacity of the Dakotas, which were at present carrying on the service, added Mr Aickin.

Three Curtiss C-46 Commandos were sourced from an American company, Civil Air Transport, an American company operating from Formosa, or as we know it today, Taiwan. This company was founded by Claire Chennault and Whiting Willauer in 1946 as Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (CNRRA) Air Transport. Using Douglas C-47 Dakota and Curtiss C-46 Commando aircraft the airline airlifted supplies and food into the Chinese civil war between the Communists and Nationalist. By 1950, following the defeat of the Nationalist forces and their retreat to Taiwan, the airline faced financial difficulties. The CIA formed a private Delaware corporation called Airdale Corporation, which formed a subsidiary called CAT, Inc. The subsidiary corporation purchased nominal shares of Civil Air Transport. CAT maintained a civilian appearance by flying scheduled passenger flights while simultaneously using other aircraft in its fleet to fly covert missions.

With the industrial action crippling the nation Civil Air Transport was given rapid approval to operate in New Zealand.  While N.A.C. Dakotas had been carrying Rail-Air freight they were unable to cope with the volume of traffic brought about with the closure of the wharves. Straits Air Freight Express had been formed to fly a Cook Strait freight service for the Railways Department but their Bristol Freighters were not scheduled to start flying in New Zealand until the 1st of June 1951. Nonetheless, Straits Air Freight Express were used as agents for Civil Air Transport in arrangements with the Government.

Media reported that the Curtiss Commando is an all metal, low midwing monoplane; to the layman it will look like a bigger, fatter version of the familiar Dakota. It has a cruising speed of 230 m.p.h. and a payload of more than six tons. 

On the 11th of April 1951 the first two Curtiss Commando transport planes landed at Whenuapai this afternoon after a journey which began at Tainan, in modern day Taiwan on the 8th of April. The Press reported that on the tail of each plane is painted the Chinese Nationalist flag. The machines carried several Americans, four Filipinos, and one Chinese. A Naw Zealander, Mrs Olive King (formerly Miss Wilkinson, of Wellington), also came in one of the planes. Mrs King will run the affairs of the American airline in New Zealand as South Pacific area manager. Mrs King has been with the company for about three years and a half. Latterly she has been operations manager in Hong Kong. For a time she was at Shanghai, but was evacuated during the southerly advance of the Chinese Communist forces. Mrs King married a pilot who is employed by the British Overseas Airways Corporation. He will come to New Zealand in the third plane on leave. Civil Air Transport is a company formed by General C. Chennault. the war-time commander of the “Flying Tigers.” It has its headquarters at Taipeh, Formosa. There are only one or two of the original “Flying Tigers” with the company, but all of its flyers have had war service, The planes arrived filled with stores, spare parts, and spare Pratt and Whitney engines. The four Filipinos are mechanics. The Chinese is an expert wireless operator. He will return to Hong Kong, because he will not be required in New Zealand.

The following day, the 12th of April, the two Commando aircraft, XT-840 and XT-844, flew to Paraparaumu and then one flew on to Blenheim. The Marlborough Express reported that No time is being lost in setting them to work, and the first freight load will be taken across to Paraparaumu about 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. Probably two flights will be made on Saturday, after which it is expected that a full schedule will be in operation. A third Commando will begin its flight to New Zealand on April 21. The crews and ground staff who will be operating the Commandos are being accommodated in Blenheim. Nine of them will be at the Grosvenor Hotel, and four will be at the Royal Hotel. The second Commando was to be flown to Woodbourne this afternoon, bringing a number of officials of the new company, including Mrs King.

Civil Air Transport's Curtiss C-46 Commando at Paraparaumu on 23 April 1951. Photo : Evening Post

Six man crew of a C-46 Curtiss Commando aeroplane used for airfreighting to China. Photograph taken 23 April 1951 by an Evening Post staff photographer.

The following day the Marlborough Express reported that the formalities in connection with the participation in the Cook Strait "freight beat" of the two big American Curtiss Commando aircraft which arrived this week from Formosa have taken a little longer than was anticipated. The result is that the Commando which crossed to Woodbourne yesterday morning has not yet made a return trip, while the second machine, which was expected from Paraparaumu yesterday afternoon with a party of officials aboard, did not arrive until this afternoon. The finalising of licences for the operation of the planes and the briefing of pilots in New Zealand flight regulations and procedure are understood to be among the matters which have been attended to in Wellington. In the meantime the Commando at Woodbourne is undergoing a maintenance check from her Filipino mechanics, and it is expected that she will go aloft again for two trips across to Paraparaumu tomorrow morning. By Monday the intention is to have the service in full operation when, as remarked by Captain Felix Smith, the group's chief pilot, in an interview at Wellington yesterday, it is hoped to move the goods "really fast." The pilots of the Commando now at Woodbourne are Captain D. G. Davenport and Captain E. L. Porter, and the fourth pilot is Captain Hudson.

Part of the Civil Air Transport was Olive King. The Press reported that six years ago a teacher at Queen Margaret College, Wellington, resigned her position and set out to see the world. Yesterday she stepped down from a Curtiss Commando transport aircraft at Paraparaumu after a flight from Formosa and busily started to make arrangements for the American crew. The schoolteacher was home again, having seen much of the world, and having in the process carved a niche for herself in aviation as operations manager of the company. Formerly Miss Olive Wilkinson, a graduate of the Wellington Teachers’ Training College, Mrs King says her effect on people is an advantage. “Over there we sometimes run into trouble,” she explains. “People get mad and demand to see the manager, that is all right until they see me - then their jaws drop and they are speechless. I can fix things up In no time at all.” When she left here in 1945, Mrs King went to Canada as a teacher. After a year she went to Shanghai to visit her sister who was working for UNRRA. There she took a job as secretary to the chief pilot of Civil Air Transport, then she became Operations Manager of the company. Last October she married Captain Lawrence King, a pilot of the British Overseas Airways Corporation, who will be joining her in New Zealand soon. Her transports are here to carry goods across Cook Strait for the Railways Department. They have just arrived from Formosa, and nobody wanted them to start work until Monday. She had other ideas, however, and the first flight by a Commando may be on Saturday.

And the first official flight was! On Saturday the 14th of April 1951 first two return freight flights from Woodbourne to Paraparaumu were made by the two Curtiss Commando aircraft. These two trial runs enabled the loading crews to "leam the ropes." They also enabled the American pilots to get to Wellington to sit for the New Zealand examinations which they had to pass before they began regular operations. Regular flights started on the 16th with at least three return trips made at each with each aircraft.

On the 26th of April two of the Commando aircraft flew into Christchurch’s Harewood airport for the first time. The Press reported that one of them remained until the following day and after being loaded with a general cargo returned to Paraparaumu. The flights to and from Harewood are carried out only when there is no demand on the Cook Strait service or after the flights over the straits for the day have finished. ‘‘The night trips are making a considerable difference to the amount of cargo we have at present in Christchurch, said the district traffic manager of the Railways Department (Mr W. A. Breach). Among the cargo-carried from Paraparaumu to Harewood in the Curtis Commando freighter aircraft was a consignment of forms for the Land and Income Tax Department. Other cargo carried from the north included oil to drums, paint, and soft goods. 

On Friday the 27th of April a third Civil Air Transport Curtiss Commando arrived in Blenheim to fly the Railways Department airfreight service across Cook Strait. Over the next day or so the aircraft was checked over while its crews were briefed in New Zealand flight procedure, will be brought into use.

Civil Air Transport's Curtiss Commando B-864 at Woodbourne in 1951. Photo : R Killick

In the weekend following seven trips were made between Woodbourne and Paraparaumu on the Saturday and six on the Sunday. The Marlborough Express reported that in order to maintain the schedule several night trips were included. Some idea of the amount of freight being handled is to be gained from the fact that on Saturday just on 98,000lb. of goods were flown off Woodbourne, while the incoming cargoes were just as big. During the past few days trips have also been made between Paraparaumu and Harewood.

On the 1st of May 1951 the straight-out trotter, Concord, became the first horse to be flown in New Zealand when he was taken from Blenheim to Paraparaumu by air on Tuesday in a Curtis Commando aircraft. Owned and trained at Kaikoura by H. J Hewson. The horse was taken by float to Blenheim. He went quietly on board the aircraft. Mr Hewson travelled with the horse, which seemed unconcerned by the noise of the engines. A number of other trainers have become interested in the possibility of flying their horses to the North Island in the next few weeks, with the Auckland Trotting Club's meeting on May 12 and May 19 as their main mission. It is likely that the transport of horses by air in New Zealand will become common next season, as the Railways Department has two Bristol air freighting arriving in the next month or so.

Reregistered from XT-844, Civil Air Transport's Commando Curtiss B-844 at Paraparaumu on 22 May 1951. Photo : J G Duncan via Archives NZ

On the 23rd of May 1951 the Marlborough Express reported that a Civil Air Transport plane landed two small cars at Woodbourne after the flight from the North Island. The cars are the forerunners of about 100 which will be transported during the next few days. Only two cars were carried on the first flight, but in future it is intended that three will be loaded. The cars were loaded from a ramp at Paraparaumu and were unloaded by the same method at Woodbourne. The ramp; specially built for the occasion, is made on a trailer body and is also built on to the tractor which pulls it. Some difficulty was encountered in unloading, but after backing down the inside of the body the cars were manhandled round until they could be safely backed down the ramp. The cars left the planes to face a barrage of photographers. There were many different makes of camera in action, varying from expensive high-speed types to cheap box cameras. None of the cars at present being carried is for Blenheim - they will all be taken to southern towns. Almost as soon as the cars were unloaded workmen were busy loading other cargo on to the plane, which left soon after for Paraparaumu, where it will load three more cars for the South Island. The Press added that ten of the cars are taxis urgently needed in Dunedin. The cars were lifted up and down from the aircraft on forklift trucks. Photographic evidence suggests the newspapers were incorrect and that a forklift was used at Paraparaumu and a ramp at Woodbourne.

A Humber 80 being loaded on a Civil Air Transport Curtiss Commando at Paraparaumu on 22 May 1951. Photo : J G Duncan via Archives NZ

Another Humber 80, this time being unloaded at Woodbourne in 1951. Photo : Marlborough Archives

In late May or early June a fourth Curtiss Commando arrived. The last Sunday of May saw 16 return trips flown with 15 on the following Sunday. Four Curtiss C-46D Commandos saw service in New Zealand… XT-840 (c/n 22359), XT-844 (c/n 22353), XT-846 (c/n 22215) and XT-864 (c/n 22362). While the Commandos were in New Zealand their international registration was changed from XT-to B-. The People's Republic of China adopted the B- prefix in 1949 and it appears Formosa (Taiwan)  adopted it while the aircraft were in New Zealand in 1951, hence B-840, B-844, B-846 and B-864. 

Curtis Commando B-864 during refuelling and cargo transfer at Paraparaumu in 1951. Photo R Killick

By mid-June more than motor vehicles had been ferried across Cook Strait from Paraparaumu to Blenheim including 63 cars, eight trucks and the remainder tractors.

By then the two Bristol Freighters of Straits Air Freight Express had arrived the first of Civil Air Transport’s Curtiss Commando aircraft returned to Formosa.

The Marlborough Express of the 27th of June 1951 reported the trip to Formosa is expected to take about three days. Captain D. T. Davenport will be in charge of the plane. His co-pilot will be Mr C. M. Pinkava. The radio operator will be Mr M. G. Soo and the flight engineer will be Mr K. Soo. Mr Pinkava will probably return to Blenheim to act as navigator of the other planes on the return journeys. The plane will fly to Auckland today and will then leave for Norfolk Island. From there it will travel to Brisbane. Cloncurry will be the next stop and Darwin will be the stepping off aerodrome in Australia, A stop will be made at Macassar and another in North Borneo. After a halt at Manila, the plane will fly direct to Formosa. The aircraft will be given a complete overhaul and will then resume the Civil Air Transport fleet. The work of the fleet is mostly for the United States Army and includes carrying supplies and munitions to bases in Japan and outlying islands. The three aircraft at present remaining in New Zealand are expected to leave for Formosa about the middle of next month, The plane leaving today will carry a load of spare parts, but will also pick up a quantity of wool for Australia before it leaves Auckland.

The other three Commando aircraft left in July just as the watersiders dispute drew to an end and the Bristol Freighters started their full schedule. The first of these departed Blenheim on the 17th under the command of Captain J. Plank with Captain H. Hudson as co-pilot, flying Auckland to wait for the other two to join it. Meanwhile a rain-soaked Woodbourne aerodrome delayed the departure of the two aircraft.

Pre-departure maintenance on Curtiss Commando B-864 at Woodbourne on 18 July 1951. Photo : J G Duncan via Archives NZ

Curtiss Commando B-848 also undergoing maintenance at Woodbourne in July 1951. Photo : Dr Joe F Leeker / E C Kirkpatrick, https://curtisscommando.e-monsite.com/pages/aircraft/s-n-44-78345-to-44-78544-curtiss-c-46d-20-cu-commando/commando-44-77323-1702658054-1702902131-1705163394-1705273363-1705496872.html

The 20th of July 1951 recorded Captain Felix Smith, senior pilot of the C.A.T. "squadron" of Curtiss Commando freighters reflecting on the New Zealand operation… For three months almost to the day he and the other Commando pilots had been flying freight between Woodbourne and Paraparaumu for seven days in most weeks, in fair weather and bad. Seventeen million pounds of goods carried; 1300 crossings of the Strait; 96,600 miles flown - and all practically trouble-free - not as much even as a dead motor. The big, soft-spoken American seemed almost disappointed. No, they had been three uneventful months. There wasn't a thing to it. But Blenheim and Paraparaumu people who, every day and practically every night saw or heard the Commandos on their seemingly never-ending beat, will disagree. So will those who benefited from the inter-Island flow of goods at a time when sea transport was crippled by the waterfront crisis. The crews will leave behind them a typically American reputation for having got things done.

To the Americans it was all in a day's work. They had, said Captain Smith, thoroughly enjoyed their experience of hospitable New Zealand and Blenheim, but as far as the pilots personally were concerned the Strait "hop" was not a highly lucrative proposition. Their pay was based on the time they spent in the air, so the half-hour flight, with an hour spent on the ground for each turnround, did not mean big money. Tokio or Formosa-based pilots employed by the company, he said, would be in the air for 12 hours out of every 14 worked, and in six days "earn as much as we have been doing in a month." Captain Smith had a great deal to say in appreciation of the ready cooperation his "outfit" had received from the Civil Aviation authorities, "right from the Director down." The authorities in other countries, he said, were rather like traffic policemen, but in New Zealand it was obviously a case of maximum efficiency with a minimum of red tape. Questioned about the navigational aids available to aircraft in New Zealand, and particularly in the Straits area, Captain Smith described them as excellent and much better than those they had been used to in the Far East.

The radio beacons on both sides of the Strait, the radio range equipment located between Wellington and Paraparaumu, and the rotating light beacon at Woodbourne made night navigation almost foolproof, a fact which explained why they had been able to operate in weather which might have been regarded by laymen as particularly bad. In addition to these aids there were the radio compasses on the Commandos, enabling bearings to be taken from ordinary wireless stations. The New Zealand navigational aids, he said, were bettered only in the case of the U.S. Air Force installations in Japan and on the islands in that area. An intensive radar watch was maintained and it was possible for an aircraft to get its exact bearings from this source within a matter of moments. "In fact if you don't call them up and tell them who you are you are very likely to have a jet fighter sent out to investigate," he added.

Cook Strait, said Captain Smith, had treated them very well, and there had been very few occasions on which flying had been prohibited. However, they knew all about the weather that could be expected out there, and the speed with which conditions could deteriorate. The extreme variety of the weather over so short a distance had continually surprised them. Still more interest had been lent by the glimpses they had had of the Tory Channel whalers in action. Paying a tribute to the service now being operated by S.A.F.E. Captain Smith said he had been intrigued by the special "cargon" equipment which would enable the Bristols to be "turned round" in something like six minutes. For air freighter work in the Far East, however, he added, such gear was really not essential as, with the abundant coolie labour available even the Commandos could be unloaded and loaded by hand inside 15 minutes. The two Commandos which now expect to leave Woodbourne on Monday, will be piloted by Captain Smith and Captain Norman Schwartz, who will be accompanied by Captains E. C. Kirkpatrick and Gene Porter as co-pilots. In Auckland they will be joined for the flight to Brisbane via Norfolk Island by a third Commando in charge of Captains John Plank and H. J. Hudson. New Zealand radio operators will go with them as far as Brisbane, where Chinese operators, flown out from Formosa, are being picked up for the four-day trip back to base.

A photograph of the last of the four C.A.T. Curtiss Commando freighters and some of the personnel who worked the Woodbourne - Paraparaumu cargo run for three months, taken just before they left Woodbourne on Tuesday on their return to Formosa. Included in this "farewell parade" are: Third from left, Captain N. Schwartz, Mr J. Stone, Captain Felix Smith (senior pilot), Captain E. C. Kirkpatrick. The others in the party were Filipino mechanics who were brought to New Zealand to maintain the big aircraft. Photo : Marlborough Express, 26 July 1951

On the 23rd of July 1951 the final two Curtiss Commandos departed Woodbourne. The following day the Marlborough Express reported At 5.15 p.m. yesterday two Commando freight planes roared out to sea sweeping low over Blenheim as they went. It was the C.A.T.'s farewell to the district, which owed so much to the pilots and staff that had operated the planes during the waterfront dispute, and had kept intact what came to be a valuable service to the Dominion. As the planes saluted the town which had been their home for so many weeks, hundreds of Blenheim people looked skywards, a little regretfully, since they were losing "Old friends." The final departure of the planes, which was originally scheduled for Friday last, was somewhat hurried. For the past few days, because heavy rain had soaked the Woodbourne aerodrome, the field has been closed to freight planes. However, yesterday afternoon, the Commanding Officer of the Woodbourne Air Force Station, Wing Commander W. G. Woodward, O.B.E., gave the C.A.T. pilots special permission to take off. Captain Felix Smith, the chief pilot of the squadron which has been operating in New Zealand, and Captain Norman Schwartz lost no time in getting under way, for they were already three days behind schedule and they "had a job to do some place else."

Leaving Blenheim, the planes were destined for Paraparaumu, from where they would fly to Auckland, and so along the route which had been followed by the first two planes to return to their base at Formosa. There the planes will be thoroughly overhauled and then they will take up their former task of flying supplies to Japan and American bases throughout the Pacific. "The place is like a morgue without them," was how an official of S.A.F.E. this morning described his feelings about the departure of the C.A.T. transports. "The men were always coming in and out of the office cracking jokes, ana the place doesn't seem the same since they have gone," he continued. The co-operation received from both the air and ground crews operating the Commandos had been first class, he said.

He had high praise for their efficiency and said that they made no bones about working at weekends or at night. They realised there was work to be done and were only too pleased to do it. "We were sorry to see them go," he concluded. "The tarmac looks bare without the Commandos." The secretary of the Blenheim Emergency Supplies Committee, Mr R. K. Harvey, paid a tribute: "Both the C.A.T. and latterly S.A.F.E. planes have been a godsend to the district. Without the airlift and Eckford's ships (T Eckford & Co Ltd ran two small steamers between Blenheim and Wellington), I do not know where we would have been."

On the 25th, after the arrival of three radio operators, the Commandos left Paraparaumu for Auckland and departed New Zealand the following day.

As a postscript, the CAT Association’s history project on the airline gives a unique view of the airline’s New Zealand’s operation - https://www.catassociation.org/history/history-project/

An urgent cablegram from Wellington requested at least five C-46s with pilots and a maintenance team immediately - an unusual request because it entailed a Chinese flag carrier operating within New Zealand’s borders; American pilots and Filipino mechanics whose certificates weren’t recognized by New Zealand’s Civil Aviation regulations; adverse tax, labor and currency laws. However this was more than half a century ago when New Zealand residents numbered two million (the country had more sheep than people, the Australians ribbed) and its flexible parliament - more like neighbors than debaters - could change laws with an ease which made victims of bureaucrats envious.

We landed at Wellington’s international airport. The first Kiwi we met, Edgar Gibson, Director of Civil Aviation, greeted us warmly. In WWII he was the Royal New Zealand Air Force liaison to Admiral Bull Halzey. Japan’s aggressive expansion at the beginning of WWII, and England’s weak response made New Zealanders and Aussies edgy. The newly forming Treaty of Australia, New Zealand, USA (ANZUS) happened to pave the way for us. Early 1951 saw the largest strike in the history of New Zealand — 22,000 dock workers, wharfs, and seamen. Edgar Gibson encouraged the creation of a cargo line, Straits Air Freight Express (SAFE). It connected two elongated islands which form the one New Zealand. Up to now, railroad trains stopped at the end of North Island where ferry boats transferred the freight across Cook Straits to South Island’s railroad. We would do the job until newly-made Bristol Air Freighters arrived from England. We called it “Operation Railhead.”

Although Wellington’s modern airport was our North Island terminal, our Southern Island home was Woodbourne Aerodrome, a grass field without boundary markers or lights. The New Zealanders wanted us to maximize the utility of our planes by flying at night but lamented the lack of runway lights. “Nothing to it,” I said, and we reverted to coffee cans, rags and oil, which had served us well during night operations in our mainland China days.

Curtis Commando B-844 at Paraparaumu in 1951. Photo : D White Collection

Co-pilot Gene Porter thought of a way of utilizing three C-46s with two captains and co-pilots. Since the flying time across Cook Straits was only about 30 minutes, the third C-46 would be loaded and waiting for him. The inbound plane was then unloaded and reloaded with cargo in the opposite direction in time for the next inbound pilot to take. The pilots got more flying time in a day’s work, and the planes, a third more utilization. Gene Porter got full credit for his nifty idea.

Dependability and an on-time record endeared us to the Kiwis. Local families insisted on tossing our laundry in with their home washing instead of taking it to a commercial place.

A reporter from the Wellington News interviewed me. It appeared with a headline, “Nothing To It, The Yanks Say,” which showed the astonishing tons of freight we had flown on time without a hitch. When the Mayor of Blenheim made us members of his polished wood private club, I ordered a round of drinks to celebrate the honor. The Mayor replied, “No shouting allowed here,” so I lowered my voice, told the bartender again, and saw bar flies laugh.

The Mayor explained, “Here, in New Zealand, ‘shout’ means you buy someone a drink. Everyone pays his own way here. Many of our members are retired sheep farmers on a low government pension. They shy away from big spenders. But at our club they enjoy an evening with friends while nursing a ten-pence beer. We don’t like big shots who slap a ten-pound note on the bar.”

Sportsmen took us fishing, and Norm Schwartz loved it—he was a good fly fisherman. One of our fishermen friends in a tweed jacket, neck tie, proper wicker basket, told us, “In New Zealand there’s a fish in every stream.” It amused Schwartz but sounded believable to me because I actually caught a trout. Seamen who harpooned whales in Cook Straits invited us to their mother ship to see the action. Blenheim’s Aero Club flew WWII primary single-engine “kites” across the turbulent Straits, appointed us honorary members and threw raucous parties. Lovely, friendly, curious lassies in uniforms of the Royal New Zealand Air Force visited Woodbourne Aerodrome.

Larry Rainey was popular among sheep herders because he hunted the wild boar who had razor-sharp tusks and a taste for lambs.  Larry and his friends believed that carrying a gun wasn’t at all sportsman-like.  Armed with only a knife, he tramped New Zealand’s hills with a bulldog named Winston (for Churchill) who dodged the tusks, clamped his teeth on the boar’s jowls and hung on while Larry stepped in for the kill.  Larry graciously took us on a hunt.  We didn’t see a wild boar, but after a several hours hike up and down hills, headed back to Larry’s camp while weary Winston dragged behind.  When we got to the pickup truck, Winston leaped up toward the tailgate, but half-way there he ran out of air speed and crashed to the ground.

Norm Schwartz and I were so thirsty and hot, we popped to the grind and glug-glugged a quart of New Zealand beer without a pause.  “Old” Larry Rainey, in his mid-fifties not even breathing hard, laughed.  “Next spring we hunt wild horses,” he said.

A frequent flyer at Barry’s Pub resembled a cartoon sketch of a Tennessee hillbilly with a crumpled hat a thousand years old, it seemed, and a floppy jacket that reminded us of a magician’s hat because he pulled a live rabbit out of one pocket, showed us another from somewhere inside his jacket.  A sharp-nosed weasel stuck his head out of the breast pocket, swiveled around, nervously checked out the bar, and disappeared deeper into the poacher’s  pocket.  “It’s a ferret,” he said.  The poacher dipped into his side pocket to pull out a web of store string.  He held it up for us and poked it with his fist.  “It’s silent,” he said, “in case I’m on someone else’s property.  I send the ferret down the hole and a rabbit runs out — into my net.”

At the time they were flying Cook Strait the Curtiss Commando was the largest land-aircraft operating domestic services in New Zealand, a record that was held until NAC introduced Vickers Viscounts in 1958. The Civil Air Transport operation offered a colourful brief chapter in New Zealand’s aviation history.