Person recorded: Ian Andrew Ritchie

Date: 23 September 2004

Interviewer: Morag Forrester

Tape counter: Sony TCM 939

Tape 1 Side A

001: Give his full name as IAN ANDREW RITCHIE, born 1921. Adds he was born in NURSE HINCHIE’S maternity hospital in GORE.

012: States he has two SISTERS - EDNA who is three years older than him and younger sister JUNE, who died in 2002.

020: Says his FATHER’S name was GEORGE FRIEND RITCHIE and his MOTHER was called LILLIAN EUPHEMIA NIVEN SMALL. Goes on to say his FATHER was a BAKER, firstly in MATAURA before moving to GORE where he was owner/operator of a bakery.

032: Recalls that as a schoolboy, he helped his FATHER in the bakery, explaining that the dough was prepared the night before it was baked in the morning ovens. “He talked me into going down there, which was at four o’clock in the morning, or five o’clock, and helping him for a while…but it was no…not for me.”

045: Mentions attending GORE PRIMARY SCHOOL and GORE HIGH SCHOOL (the old one by the bridge, he says later).

050: Replies that the PRIMARY SCHOOL was big and goes on quickly to say he was at HIGH SCHOOL for two and a half years before leaving and taking up an apprenticeship as a CABINETMAKER.

065: Relates a tale about his schooldays involving a fellow classmate, BOB MCCARTNEY, the ENGLISH teacher, MONA WOODHEAD, and a question about adverbs. He uses this as an example of why he didn’t really enjoy schoolwork.

086: Talks about his lifelong ambition to FLY “I was always trying to save up enough money to FLY, when I was eight or ten I biked out to the local aerodrome when KINGSFORD SMITH landed. I decided that day, that was for me.”

090: Explains that when he later applied to join the RNZAF (in 1940 during WWII), he was told that he hadn’t attained enough education to become a pilot so he could, instead, be trained as an AIR GUNNER, which he didn’t want to do, giving a gory illustration why not.

100: Continues this theme saying he and a joinery colleague at ADAM SPEDEN’S FURNITURE FACTORY both applied to the RNZAF at the same time. Says they had examinations to complete, including algebra, physics and navigation.

115: The first of many interruptions occurs so tape stopped and re-started.

118: Picks up again about sitting the exams along with other pupils and that he was delighted when the following day their teacher, MARTY FOWLER, phoned to congratulate him on achieving the highest marks.

139: Recalls the day WWII was declared on 03/SEPTEMBER/1939, when he was just a month short of 18 years old. Says he and his friend OSSIE SIM looked at each other and said “Well this is us.” and that they decided to apply for the airforce.

154: Reiterates that on leaving school at 15, he started as an apprentice at ADAM SPEDEN’S FURNITURE FACTORY and that he chose CABINETMAKING after years of pottering with his FATHER in the latter’s workshop.

164: Recalls his first wage was 10s/week. Goes on to explain why he remembers it so quickly referring to both himself and his employer being practising members of the PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH in GORE. The tale also explains that ADAM SPEDEN had taken him on, but then had to dismiss him (due to an administrative error) and so IAN’S FATHER stepped in by making a loose arrangement over his wages.

204: Replies that he has limited memories of the NZ DEPRESSION, suggesting that perhaps it was made easier for his family because his FATHER had his own business. Says they also kept their own cow – which he milked before going to school in the mornings.

215: States it took more than a year to complete the PILOTS & OBSERVERS training course which he and his friend OSSIE SIM did while still working at the FACTORY.

243: Recalls it was 1942 when they were sent to a base near WOODBURN AIRFORCE STATION near BLENHEIM. Adds they had to build their own camp hut and that essentially it was just a move to keep them occupied while waiting for vacancies on various courses.

258: Eventually, he says, he was sent to ROTORUA and from there to an elementary FLYING school which was usually the closest one to the trainee’s home town. In his case, he says, he was seconded to TAIERI, near DUNEDIN.

274: Mentions his INSTRUCTOR was RON BUSH whom he describes as being “so impatient” apparently due to the frustration of having to carry out instruction rather than taking part in the action overseas.

278: Gives an example of his instructor’s manner when they were training with TIGER MOTHS which he describes as a tandem seat aircraft. Explains that essentially, no matter what he did, whether he was too meticulous in his work or not, his instructor always found fault.

309: Remembers when he undertook his first solo flight that, as he came FLYING downwind on the circuit, he yahooed and yelled at having the aircraft all to himself. “You can only do one first solo in your life.”

354: Says he was next posted to WOODBURN to train as a FIGHTER PILOT and then on to CANADA to gain his SERVICE WINGS.

359: Mentions fellow cadet, RON HAZLETT, was posted to CANADA to train as a BOMBER PILOT. Says that he’d heard that HAZLETT, who was married at the time, had complained at being sent overseas while IAN, who was single, was receiving his training in NEW ZEALAND. So, he continues, he raised the issue with his commanding officer and suggested they swap over.

371: Says that the pass rate at TAIERI was normally 50 percent. Adds there were 15 NEW ZEALANDERS in his group that attended the training course at CANADA and only nine of those got their WINGS.

399: Describes his CANADIAN instructor as being a real gentleman. “Every day was a pleasure to FLY.”

401: On completion of that course, the group was sent to ENGLAND, at first in a “holding pen” in BRIGHTON where they stayed at the GRAND HOTEL.

411: Mentions there was a maximum height limit for becoming a fighter pilot.

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002: Continues off-tape discussion about night sorties for the allies over Europe. Says that at first they were stationed at Grantham to FLY twin-engined BLENHEIMS as a precursor to the BEAUFIGHTERS, both of them being forerunners to the MOSQUITO.

017: Mentions he met and married his WIFE, DELL, in NOTTINGHAM. Talks of his best man, REX NIEDERER being posted to CHARTER HALL (nicknamed by the men as SLAUGHTER HALL, he says, because they lost so many pilots and navigators there).

025: Says he followed a few days later where they were FLYING BEAUFIGHTER II’s and learned AIR GUNNERY techniques.

036: Mentions that earlier in CANADA, he’d been assessed to have “exceptional night vision”. This attribute led to his also gaining “exceptional” ability in AIR GUNNERY. Adds that he believes his boyhood days of shooting RABBITS helped hone his skills.

070: Recalls that it was at CHARTER HALL that the PILOTS joined up with their crew. Says there were three NZ PILOTS who were teamed up with three NZ navigators along with many more ENGLISH and other COMMONWEALTH counterparts.

079: It was there, he says, that he met ARTHUR CHURCH who it transpired had also been a CABINETMAKER in civilian life. Quickly adds that they were sent on to MASSINGHAM for more training until eventually they were posted to NO. 23 NIGHT FIGHTER SQUADRON, a WWI veteran outfit.

095: At first, he recalls, they were on straight NIGHT FLIGHTS where they learned to identify aircraft. Explains they would be directed by ground radar towards the path of an unidentified object and then once the PILOT was within three miles of it, the navigator took over directions.

116: Says eventually a little black speck appeared and the PILOT would have to instantly identify the object. Mentions, here, that before they went on night sorties they had to wear special glasses to ensure their night vision would be at optimum level.

138: Once the aircraft was identified, he says, the PILOT would FLY underneath it, at the same speed, ease the control column back, to let the speed drop and allow enough distance to fire the four cannons at the identified object.

150: Goes on to mention NIGHT INTRUDING which meant FLYING over GERMANY. Says the allies had the THOUSAND BOMBER RAIDS at that stage in the war and that they were losing a “tremendous amount of bombers” So, he continues, they formed HUNDRED GROUP – a special squadron – in an attempt at reducing those losses.

158: Explains how the special squadron would use a special aluminium material which gave the enemy the illusion there were far more planes in the group than just the one or two bombers that were dropping the ‘window’.

167: Meanwhile, he says, the main airforce was going over HOLLAND to GERMANY so, he adds, his team’s job was to cover the GERMAN NIGHT FIGHTER airfields as their planes would be sent to attack the main allied BOMBER force.

178: Says it was when the GERMANS switched on the airstrip lights that their fighters would strafe them.

195: Replies that of the other 39 PILOTS that had gone through training with him at TAIERI, then CANADA and on to the allied bases, only “four of us came home”.

201: Also mentions that there were quite a few lost from his SQUADRON of which only he and his navigator were NEW ZEALANDERS. Adds they had all become very close and can still recall the names of those who died.

Tape stopped and restarted

215: Responding to question, says he can recall meeting his WIFE, DELL, for the first time. It was at one of the regular SATURDAY night dances held at GRANTHAM. “She danced beautifully and she looked beautiful and, eh, I got smitten I think.”

239: Says they’d arranged to meet at the dance the following SATURDAY, but it was cancelled, as were consecutive dances over the next couple of months. Says he found out where she worked and ended up haunting her there.

250: Replies they’d been courting for about six months when they decided to get ENGAGED. Says it was during a cycling trip to NOTTINGHAM that he popped the question and DELL instantly replied in the affirmative.

271: So, he continues, he wrote to his MOTHER telling her the news (letters took at least six weeks to reach NZ from BRITAIN and vice versa) but by the time he received a reply they’d decided to bypass the engagement and get MARRIED immediately.

277: The wedding took place in NOTTINGHAM on 13 MAY 1944.

281: Describes DELL’S FATHER as a YORKSHIRE MINER who was a staunch disciplinarian about his FAMILY’S upbringing. (DELL has four SISTERS, two BROTHERS). Says her FATHER would not accept DELL’S marriage to a NEW ZEALANDER so the ceremony was held in a registry office in NOTTINGHAM.

292: Replies that her FATHER and he eventually became “great friends”. Mentions that one of his sisters had married slightly earlier to a PILOT also based in ENGLAND so they both acted as witnesses along with his friend REX.

299: They honeymooned, he says, in EDINBURGH. Recalls remarking about all the tram cars and shops carrying the name RITCHIE and suggests there may be an ancestral link. Mentions his GRANDFATHER came from SCOTLAND and immigrated to NEW ZEALAND.

314: Recalls his GRANDFATHER lived in INVERCARGILL where he kept an aviary. At the same time, IAN, had an aviary in GORE and recalls an incident involving a rather unfortunate goldfinch.

332: Returning to the newly weds, says they went back to GRANTHAM where DELL was housed in the WOMEN’S AUXILIARY AIRFORCE (WAAF) quarters. Mentions DELL worked as a CINE PROJECTIONIST during the war. Explains what this work involved.

352: Mentions that even after their MARRIAGE, they had to stay in separate quarters at GRANTHAM, but eventually obtained rooms at GONERBY HILL FOOT at the home of JESS & GEORGE BRADER.

371: Remembers an argument he had with DELL about doubling on a bicycle (he cycling while she perched on the bar) in that she told him it was unlawful in ENGLAND. He won, but sure enough, the cops pulled him over and gave him a warning about carrying two people on a bicycle. Says they had to walk the rest of the way home.

388: Mentions that before they moved back to NZ, DELL showed the first signs of the crippling arthritis that has afflicted her ever since. Says she had also become pregnant with their first child and that throughout the pregnancy, the swellings around her joints disappeared.

399: States that in effect their SON, GARY, was a honeymoon child as he was born nine months and 13 days after their wedding. But, he adds, when they arrived in NZ in 1946 with a 13-month baby they had to fend off a lot of queries about whether the child was conceived pre- or post- wedding.

410: With regard to DELL’S illness, says they’ve only recently discovered that a likely cause was a trigger response to the foetus of that first pregnancy that apparently occurs in one in every 350,000 first pregnancies. Adds they’ve tried all kinds of quack cures over the years but to no avail.

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006: Returning to his NIGHTFLIGHT sorties, replies that for the duration of the war, he never told DELL what his work involved until one night when his aircraft was “shot up very very badly”. Explains he’d been flying a MOSQUITO (these were made of plywood and balsa wood) and got hit over MUNICH and gives further details.

063: Says that once they realised they’d been hit, he turned back to ENGLAND and on the way, flack came up and this time it was ahead of them. Next thing one engine was gone, he says. Goes on to describe how another aircraft helped guide him in while he was FLYING on one engine with neither airspeed indicator nor hydraulics.

100: Goes on to say that as he came in to land, he realised there were no hydraulics and had to manually pump the undercarriage down. Recalls asking his navigator, ARTHUR, to select the necessary dial but problems occurred which he describes.

125: Says eventually there was a click click and the three green lights were on. “We must have entered that runway at 140mph I reckon.” They landed at WOODBRIDGE further down country than their own base.

150: Recalls the next day taking a look at the damaged MOSQUITO and seeing the main hole “you could walk in bent double”. Adds there were another 121 holes on the aircraft from the flack they took. So they were flown back to base the following morning by their flight commander.

157: That night, he says, he met another NZ PILOT, HUGH SKILLING, who had landed a LANCASTER at WOODBRIDGE. Back in NZ, SKILLING, had taken up the job of CFI at TAIERI. While SKILLING was on a visit to TE ANAU they met up again. Recalls that SKILLING had a sudden recollection that it was IAN that “landed a MOSQUITO at WOODBRIDGE on ANZAC DAY. I said, that’s right and you landed a LANCASTER.”

174: Back to 1945, says he was granted leave after they got back and it was another colleague who was also on leave that spilt the beans to DELL by commenting that they were lucky IAN was sitting there with them. “That was my last OP of the war so it didn’t matter (laughs).”

195: They returned to NZ, he says, on the RANGITATA, having to wait until 1946 for the first available accompanied passage so that they could travel together as a family.

202: Says they sailed into WELLINGTON and within a few days travelled to LYTTELTON then on to DUNEDIN where his PARENTS had shifted from GORE before WWII.

220: Recalls it was difficult to buy a house then because with all the returned servicemen, the prices had become exorbitant. Adds that it was a difficult time for them living at his PARENTS’ house especially as his MOTHER didn’t make it easy for his ENGLISH-born WIFE.

237: Mentions he set up a FURNITURE FACTORY in DUNEDIN as a shared partnership called ANDREWS & RITCHIE.

261: Says they had it for about two years during which time the staff increased to seven. Explains that his partner, LES ANDREWS, had been the FRENCH POLISHER in the family factory in GORE and had already set up business in DUNEDIN when he asked IAN to go into partnership.

269: Says he was assisted by the government’s 200 pound REHABILITATION LOAN to returned servicemen.

273: “But unfortunately, the FLYING bug was still with me and I got accepted for the TERRITORIAL SQUADRON in 1948.” He says there were four SQUADRONS formed throughout NZ and he joined the one at DUNEDIN.

282: Interrupted by question, he replies that he was given the title of HONORARY FLYING INSTRUCTOR as opposed to a paid one after he’d founded the AERO CLUB at GORE in 1951.

290: As an aside, mentions that DELL returned to ENGLAND in 1952 so that he could fulfil his promise to her FATHER that she would go back and visit them within five years of leaving. “Here’s me saying that and we didn’t have two bob to rub together. We had to buy one knife one week and one fork the next week when we came home.”

297: Refers to the first house he and DELL bought. Says it was in NAIRN STREET, DUNEDIN, and he and the seller came to a halfway agreement between the valuation price of 900 pounds and the asking price of 1400 pounds.

318: The TOPDRESSING business, he says, started in 1950.

330: Recalls being asked to consider a three-way partnership (including ROSS CURTIS and RON BUSH) in which they’d each put in 1000 pounds to start the TOPDRESSING company (named SOUTHLAND & OTAGO AERIAL TOPDRESSING LTD.) It was on his suggestion that they started it in GORE. It was the first of its kind in SOUTHLAND & OTAGO in 1950.

340: Comments that he’d been FLYING for six or seven years before he was licensed to drive a car. His first driving lessons, he adds, were to and from INVERCARGILL in 1948.

349: Affirms that the TOPDRESSING business led to the family shifting to GORE and by a roundabout route, ended up renting from the BURROWS family their home in the eastern SOUTHLAND town.

367: Replies that by 1951 when they shifted, he and DELL had an addition to the family – their DAUGHTER GAIL (who was born in OCTOBER 1948).

377: Mentions that earlier, to start the TOPDRESSING business off, he flew to NEW PLYMOUTH and bought two TIGER MOTHS which were then ferried home. Explains he then flew to WELLINGTON to have HOPPERS fitted in place of the front seat.

384: States the first TOPDRESSING company in NZ was formed at HAREWOOD, CHRISTCHURCH in 1949 by JOHN BRAZIER. Adds that BILL HEWETT started a similar company in MOSSBURN at about the same time as IAN and his partners formed the GORE-based firm.

Another interruption occurs so tape stopped and wound on to end

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002: Responding to question, states he and DELL had three CHILDREN in total. GARY, GAIL and the last one was IAN GREIG who was born in GORE in 1951.

034: Explains that the TIGER MOTH was kept at TAIERI AIRPORT when the TOPDRESSING business first started because they began work around MIDDLEMARCH.

040: Relates another story involving RON BUSH and his brusque manner. This time it involves BUSH doing all the FLYING work leaving IAN to handle the loading and unloading of the aircraft with TOPDRESSING materials.

081: Recalls saying to DELL that if he eventually wasn’t allowed to FLY the TIGER MOTH then he would tell BUSH the deal was over. And so it went on for months, he says.

089: Until finally, he says, BUSH called to say he’d failed his medical and wanted IAN to takeover the work on the MIDDLEMARCH farm the following morning.

106: So, next day after “the most thorough pre-flight check I’ve ever done in my life” away he went. Up and down the two valleys he was looking for an aerodrome until finally he spied a “little yellow loader” and as he approached he did one of the shortest landings ever.

136: Repeats that the only other TOPDRESSING company in SOUTHLAND & OTAGO in the early 1950s was BILL HEWETT’S at MOSSBURN. Replies there was not much competition between them because for a long while, the farmers were sceptical about the effectiveness of this method of spraying their paddocks.

144: Affirms they used super-phosphate which was sown from 75ft above ground and a width of three-quarters of a chain. Replies that on windy days they didn’t operate.

156: The more farms they did, the more business grew, he says, although he also spent a lot of time canvassing potential customers which was usually done when the wind got too strong to FLY.

170: States he stayed in the business for ten years. Remembers that within about two years, BUSH had opted out and so he took over as MANAGER and CHIEF PILOT. Mentions the company bought the first FLETCHER – (later he explains that it was the first prototype AERIAL TOPDRESSING aircraft assembled in NZ).

178: Mentions that he and the remaining partner, CURTIS, held directors’ meetings on SUNDAYS. Describes CURTIS as a businessman involved in several different interests and that their working relationship was rather fraught at times.

184: Reports that the company had grown from a capital base of 5,000 pounds to 60,000 pounds and as a holder of one-fifth of the shares meant he had an investment of 12,000 pounds. Says he was therefore able to increase the wages for other PILOTS working for the company.

200: Replies that at its peak, the company had nine TIGER MOTHS and later, six FLETCHERS.

212: In talking about what the FLETCHER design was about, says it was essentially a FLYING TRACTOR. From PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, FLETCHER AIRCRAFT CORPORATION was the first to come up with a design, he says, followed by two from BRITAIN – an AUSTER AGRICOLA and a PERCIVAL EP9.

222: Eventually, he says, due to his continuing difference of opinion with CURTIS, he decided to resign from the partnership. Because he was the working partner, it was also decided that the company would go into liquidation. However, due to an initial agreement, he did not come away with the 12,000 pounds-worth of shares he thought he would get. Instead, he was legally only able to claim the 1,000 pounds he had put in when the company was formed in 1950.

239: For that reason, he says, he decided never again to form a business with anyone else. And despite plenty of work offers, opted to stay in GORE where he and DELL set up a passenger FLIGHT SERVICE which was the start of RITCHIE AIR SERVICES LTD.

250: As an important legal caveat, he says, the licence he was granted was to provide a FLIGHT SERVICE from GORE AND ALL LICENSED AERODROMES IN NEW ZEALAND whereas normally it would have been from GORE TO ..ETC.

256: On their reason for moving the base to TE ANAU, says the idea was sparked by their friend, FRASER WILKES, an employee of former GORE residents, LAWSON BURROWS and WILSON CAMPBELL, who had started up FIORDLAND TRAVEL LTD. in TE ANAU during the late 1940s.

260: Also mentions that SPANZ (SOUTH PACIFIC AIRLINES NEW ZEALAND) was expanding operations and using the aerodrome at GORE. Says this bit into RITCHIE AIR SERVICES (RAS) business because SPANZ had a licence to operate in all weathers whereas RAS didn’t.

268: So, he says, they checked out the small aerodrome at TE ANAU on LABOUR WEEKEND, 1960, as suggested by WILKES. Says the aerodrome belonged to the TOURIST HOTEL CORPORATION and that there was no power installed at that stage.

280: Replies that it was situated just a couple of paddocks away from the TE ANAU HOTEL. Recalls the main runway ran north and south and that the northern part would be where the TE ANAU CLUB now stands. The south end, he says, is now residential development including RITCHIE COURT (named after him).

293: That LABOUR WEEKEND, then, he says they got the local garage to install some drums of fuel, did a check to ensure there was no water in them, gave DELL a chair and table with a book of tickets and waited for the passengers to arrive.

295: Replies they did quite a lot of SCENIC FLIGHTS that weekend. “It was enough to convince us that this is what we had to do.” It took another six months to completely shift operations from GORE to TE ANAU.

301: Recalls the local AERO CLUB had a little hut at the top end of the aerodrome, so they put a transported butcher’s shop about halfway down. Says he will always remember the one-room shop cost them 55 pounds.

308: Says he made some alterations to the hut to provide the basics of heat, cooking and washing facilities. Eventually they had power installed in order to work the fuel pumps. Adds that one of his first PILOTS, RUSSELL GUTSCHLAG, helped build another room onto the hut to provide separate sleeping quarters for the children. (The eldest child was at boarding school in DUNEDIN).

318: Explains they rented and eventually sold their home in GORE to friends who were photographers. It had been the home owned by FLEMINGS CREAMOTA COMPANY.

330: Replies that DELL had always been supportive of his plans and was happy to move to TE ANAU. And that she formed some good friendships with VERNA CAMPBELL, CORA BURROWS, and others. Tells a couple of anecdotal tales.

350: Remembers the fare he charged for FLIGHTS was four pounds ten shillings return to MILFORD SOUND and two pounds to DEEP COVE and back. “Some nights we’d count up to a hundred pounds and I’d think, cor, we’re gonna be millionaires.”

356: States their “bread and butter” FLIGHTS were to MILFORD SOUND. Says it was a SCENIC FLIGHT with the return journey back across the GERTRUDE SADDLE, down the HOLLYFORD and EGLINTON VALLEYS back to TE ANAU.

363: Replies the first aircraft RAS used was a CESSNA 180 BQJ and thinks it cost around 3,000 pounds in 1960 and that it was bought in NEW PLYMOUTH. Adds it’s now, unfortunately, resting somewhere in the GERTRUDE SADDLE.

370: Affirms they added to the livery. But at first, he also had the TIGER MOTH and that a lot of their revenue came from offering FLYING LESSONS. Adds he would have trainees from GORE, INVERCARGILL and LUMSDEN as well as TE ANAU.

379: Of his students, says BILL BLACK and EION BUCKHAM became PILOTS for RAS. Also names GARY CRUICKSHANK who he thinks is still FLYING in QUEENSTOWN.

380: As an instructor, says the emphasis is to get the student to his/her first solo flight. Some of his students were better then others. Some (PILOTS), he says, are naturals and includes his son GREIG in this category, adding that he’s never told him so.

396: Believes a good PILOT is anyone who works with their hands, for example, a farmer who is good with tractor work. Also good coordination is a decided benefit.

405: Responding to question says that they did indeed receive a lot of opposition from rival companies when they first set up RAS in TE ANAU. Quotes again the legal caveat in his licence while qualifying this comment.

416: Mentions that the SOUTHLAND AERO CLUB used to use private PILOTS for FLIGHTS into MILFORD SOUND so that they could accumulate their FLIGHT times. Adds that one such PILOT taking people ostensibly to MILFORD SOUND and never found it so instead would circle LAKE GUNN and claim it was MILFORD and his passengers never knew any different.

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005: Continues discussion about attempts by a rival group to prevent RAS operating from TE ANAU. Recalls receiving a letter saying he was operating illegally because he wasn’t licensed to work in TE ANAU.

012: Mentions meeting ERIC COLBECK (of the THC) who said he wanted a professional FLIGHT operator on his airfield and therefore allowed IAN to use it for RAS on condition that he maintained it and paid the licence fee registered under his company.

019: Returning to the letter says he was ordered to appear before the MAGISTRATES COURT in INVERCARGILL and RON GILBERT was his legal representative. The case was dismissed and RAS was instantly granted a licence to operate from TE ANAU.

030: Comments that he had always thought the opposition had come from SOUTHERN SCENIC AIR SERVICES based in QUEENSTOWN but he says it recently transpired that it was the SOUTHLAND AERO CLUB that had reported him, a revelation that wounded him because of the fact that so many years before, he had helped the AERO CLUB set up its GORE branch.

044: Once the case was over it was back to business and, he says, COLBECK, was keen for RAS to operate FLIGHTS to MILFORD SOUND during the winter months to provide a FREIGHT service for the hotel there.

054: Says he bought a twin-engined (DE HAVILLAND) DOMINIE from the MARLBOROUGH AERO CLUB, painted it silver and green – the same colours on the CESSNA – and put an RAS on the tail.

060: Replies it was “an absolute delight” to FLY the DOMINIE. Qualifies this saying the TIGER MOTH is an old DE HAVILLAND aircraft and like the DOMINIE is a “tail-dragger”. Explains this further.

075: Later on, he continues, he flew DC-3’s which he describes as another “tail-dragger” and he used to think they were like big DOMINIES. Adds the latter, being a bi-plane, would “waffle through the turbulence” rather than bumping hard.

081: Mentions receiving the weather report from the MET OFFICE in INVERCARGILL at six every morning and if the wind was 30 or 40 knots at 10,000 feet he would not FLY into MILFORD.

103: Discussing the effects of both weather and terrain on FLIGHT, he gives a descriptive example of taking off from TE ANAU when there was almost no breeze, FLYING the 42 miles up the lake with the gauges on increasing altitude and yet the plane has not climbed because of the downdraught countering it. So, he says, if you continued on into the mountains like that, there would be trouble.

119: Explains it was his TOPDRESSING work that taught him how to “really FLY by the seat o’ your pants” and therefore FIORDLAND did not present any problems to him. But, he admits, mountain FLYING is specialised.

133: Talks about taking the SWISS AMBASSADOR and his wife, son and pet poodle on a FLIGHT into MILFORD. Recalls that in the early 60s, deer could be seen in the area so he would point them out on the way back. However, he cites an occasion when he was carrying a deer shooter in the back, incognito, so he diverted to prevent showing where the animals were.

147: Replies that latterly he did take deer hunters into the NATIONAL PARK, particularly during the WAPITI ‘ROAR’ season. Says he also did a lot of supply work especially during the building of the HYDRO POWER SCHEME at WEST ARM on LAKE MANAPOURI using the DOMINIE to drop supplies and equipment onto survey sites.

165: However, the (CESSNA) FLOATPLANE was used to carry the carcasses of deer shot by hunters. Replies RAS purchased its first FLOATPLANE in 1965. He later corrected that the FLOATPLANE was multi-purpose; it could carry passengers, hunters, crayfish loads etc.

171: Mentions that HARRY WIGLEY of MOUNT COOK AIRLINES visited the RITCHIES when they first moved to TE ANAU and recalls HARRY telling him that he ought to get a FLOATPLANE for the country they were in. And his reply, he says, was that they didn’t have enough capital because of having bought the CESSNA and TIGER MOTH. Admits there was an element of once bitten twice shy about going into joint business with WIGLEY.

186: Recollects that the airstrip at MILFORD was “just a little gravel strip” and that landing there was “exacting” and some days there would be a wind sock pulling one way and another one pulling in the opposite direction.

196: Mentions a book due to be released about the PILOT, BRIAN CHADWICK, who was reported missing on a regular FLIGHT from CHRISTCHURCH to MILFORD. Recalls CHADWICK describing landing at MILFORD a struggle and explains the illusory effect on distances the mountainous country creates. He later added that the weather variables caused the challenge of trying to maintain the FLIGHTS from HQ to MILFORD and back again.

217: Replies that in one week in 1965 there were two fatal air accidents: one involved RAS and one by SOUTHERN SCENIC AIRWAYS (QUEENSTOWN). They happened a week after he bought the FLOATPLANE and he goes on to talk about having been made an offer some time beforehand by SSA to merge companies.

230: Expands on this saying that engineering was always a problem for small FLIGHT operators in that each aircraft had to pass a MAINTENANCE RELEASE INSPECTION, usually every three months, depending on the number of hours flown. So, it was a big attraction to merge with someone that had an engineering maintenance base as SOUTHERN SCENIC (SSA) then had.

236: So while the merger discussions went on, he continued FLYING the FLOATPLANE that former SSA PILOT, DON NAIRN, had been flown in TE ANAU. Adds that having spent hundreds of hours PILOTING the FLOATPLANE, he had gained a lot of experience when he purchased his own FLOATPLANE for RAS.

241: However, he says, he “tipped it up” on LAKE MCKERROW a week after the purchase.

243: But the first accident on the 4th MARCH involved PILOT ALAN NICHOLAS who was FLYING for SSA on its FLOATPLANE and was landing on LAKE SHIRLEY. Recalls that on that day, the weather had quickly worsened.

252: Remembers that as he was passing GEORGE SOUND on the RAS FLOATPLANE, he heard CBL call, saying it was landing on LAKE SHIRLEY and had thought the PILOT must have been above the weather to be landing there.

258: Says he got to MILFORD where the weather was still clear and took a short cut down a valley back to TE ANAU. Just as they reached the lake, he says, the squall hit but he managed to secure his aircraft.

261: Continues saying AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL in INVERCARGILL asked him to do a search for the FLOATPLANE, so he accompanied GRUMMEN WIDGEON PILOT, MAX BRISTER in his aircraft and they found that the SSA FLOATPLANE had crashed and there appeared to be one survivor on one of the floats, the only part of the aircraft above the water: a photographer with them had taken a photograph (see accompanying IR Images). He also mentions that RAS had already merged with TOURIST AIR TRAVEL which by this stage was operating the WIDGEON under RAS.

280: Following a disagreement with BRISTER, he says, they agreed to return to TE ANAU and pick up an emergency rescue crew and bring it back to the stricken FLOATPLANE. There was the one survivor, an AUSTRALIAN, but the PILOT and one other passenger died in the crash.

310: Describing the circumstances surrounding the second accident of the trio, says it was the following day (5th MARCH) he planned to collect some people who’d been on a fishing trip at LAKE MCKERROW. Says the aircraft plonked into the water and describes seeing the swell of water tilt the plane over.

338: Says the plane was upside down so he was standing on the roof with no lifejacket and recalls feeling the water level rise slowly up to his knees and waited for it to reach chest-level before trying to open the door.

348: Continues that he sat on the float, getting colder and decided to strike out for shore, which he did. Admits he shouldn’t have done so because he was “just about buggered when I got there”.

357: Mentions the audience of potential passengers had to unpack their gear and they stayed the night in a nearby FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK BOARD hut. MAX BRISTER flew up at dawn the following morning and brought the party back to TE ANAU, he later added.

363: The third accident, (7th MARCH), involved PILOT EION BUCKHAM, one of his students in GORE who had just started working for RAS in TE ANAU and had just moved into the home he and his family were going to live in.

368: Recalls that on this particular evening, BUCKHAM had lit the fire awaiting the arrival of his WIFE, JEAN, their baby SON and his SISTER, who were on their way over from GORE in their TRIUMPH HERALD car. Says they didn’t arrive.

375: Remembers that BUCKHAM had woken up the RITCHIES to say he was going to go out on the highway looking for them. After he’d left, a call came from LUMSDEN to say there’d been an accident and that they’d all been killed. The crash, he says, occurred at the double bends on the TE ANAU side of SH94 at MOSSBURN.

Tape stopped due to interruption.

381: Continues relating the above events saying local police officer, TED DONNELLY, had to deliver the news to BUCKHAM who took time out to arrange his affairs.

388: Says BUCKHAM then got in touch with him and began working for RAS again. Stresses that he kept a close eye on the PILOT to ensure his mental as well as physical health was okay and that apart from a few bouts of depression, he seemed fine.

394: On the 7th, says he had to take the DOMINIE to INVERCARGILL for its annual check. Says there were three ENGLISH passengers booked for a SCENIC FLIGHT over MILFORD back to TE ANAU. Recalls even strapping in one of them and again checking with BUCKHAM that everything was okay. Person recorded: Ian Ritchie

400: While he was in INVERCARGILL, he was contacted by AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL following concerns that the aircraft to MILFORD was overdue. Quickly he returned to TE ANAU where another RAS PILOT, BILL BLACK, was already swinging a search into action.

409: Says he was around the PEMBROKE area when he heard BLACK call up and say “what a bloody mess” which would have been heard in every control tower in NZ. BLACK, he says, was over the GERTRUDE and the downed plane was in the snow. There were no survivors.

Tape 3 Side A stops

Tape 3 Side B starts

001: States that while the accidents didn’t help; it was in fact an approach from the CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY (CAA) in WELLINGTON to take up a position there, combined with DELL’S worsening health, that prompted the decision to merge with TOURIST AIR TRAVEL, retaining a financial interest in it.

039: On a tangent, talks about the circumstances surrounding his decision to employ PILOT BILL BLACK. Reiterates that he taught BLACK to FLY when he was an INSTRUCTOR in GORE.

050: Says BLACK bought one of the TIGER MOTHS owned by SOUTHLAND & OTAGO AERIAL TOPDRESSING and practised and practised. After the RITCHIES moved to TE ANAU, BLACK continued the lessons there so IAN told him should he ever gain his COMMERCIAL licence, he could work for RAS.

065: The day arrived, he says, when BLACK came to him to report he had got his COMMERCIAL so he replied “Right, when can you start?” and says BLACK “went straight down on the ground and kissed both shoes (laughs)”.

068: Adds BLACK was “the most devoted employee and friend you could ever have”.

080: On the offer from the CAA, says he was 45 years old and the package offered was his own twin-engined aircraft to FLY, no fuel costs, FLY by his own timetable, no passengers to have to be polite to, and a 40-hour working week. Despite a salary reduction, says “it was quite tempting”.

093: In hindsight, he says he should never have done it; that he should have stayed in TE ANAU.

102: However, he took the offer and says at first it was a new sensation being able to do the gardening on a SATURDAY, or take a trip somewhere for the day.

116: Referring back to TE ANAU, says they had plans drawn up to build a house on QUINTIN DRIVE. But another resident, PAT MCCASSEY, at the same time offered to sell him his home in FERGUS SQUARE because he was moving to FIJI.

137: Says the split-level house is still there and the trees he planted are now up to roof height.

144: Replies that he was surprised when he was told his name would live on due to its being gazetted for a residential street in the town. Says BLACK sent him a photo.

156: Mentions that some of the PILOTS he instructed maintain contact with him, such as BLACK, and RUSSELL GUTSHCLAG who’s now based at TWIZEL, JOHN ROGER, DICK WHITE and NOEL MANGAN at BLENHEIM.

170: Says FLYING has been his life. For example, he says, if a plane flew overhead that moment, he would be compelled to go out and take a look at it. Mentions one of his greatest thrills was winning the PROFESSIONAL AEROBATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS in NZ on 31/JANUARY/1959.

179: States he competed for three years consecutively until he managed to win outright. (It’s in the memoirs, he says.)

185: FLYING, he says is like another world. “You just feel so free, don’t you…? (pause)…the aeroplane becomes part of you.” Expands on this theme.

200: Looking back, describes TE ANAU as a delightful place to live in those early days when everyone knew each other. Says the younger SON GREIG went to TE ANAU SCHOOL, and their daughter, GAIL, he explains, on leaving primary did correspondence schooling in TE ANAU.

212: Affirms that both SONS took up FLYING: GARY, who learned in the TIGER MOTH, is now a CAPTAIN with AIR NEW ZEALAND.

223: Says GREIG took his first solo FLIGHT at MATAMATA. However, he adds it was the TOURISM business that he excelled at and for several years has been owner/operator of a travel firm based in CHRISTCHURCH.

248: Replies that RAS was the first TE ANAU-based COMMERCIAL AIRLINE “so it was pretty pioneering alright”.

250: Mentions getting around the difficulties of the notorious fog that rises up from LAKE TE ANAU particularly during the winter months. Explains that he would make special arrangements with the coach services to land his MILFORD passengers on the usually clear stretch at MOSSBURN which sat above the fog level. He later added that he would land on a farmer’s paddock situated between MOSSBURN and CASTLEROCK.

260: Eventually, he says, it was organised with one of the local farmers to land the DOMINIES the evening before a flight on a paddock a few miles from TE ANAU. The paddock, he says, was always clear of fog.

267: Admits that the CAA would have prosecuted them for such action. Says he was once queried about it.

274: By the time he retired from FLYING, says he accumulated about 13,300 hours in the air “which is a lot of time to have an aeroplane strapped to your bottom”.

282: Considers it would be a different business today in TE ANAU with so much competition (offering SCENIC FLIGHTS). Relates a tale about having to tout for business round the hotels.

Interview ends.

Tape 3 Side B stops