Historic biplane star of celebrations

A little 77-year-old biplane made of plywood and fabric and painted orange will set off from Mandeville, near Gore, on Tuesday to fly across the Southern Alps to Hokitika, where it will be the star of an aviation anniversary.

The plane, known as ZK-ADI, is the de Havilland Fox Moth used by Dunedin-born pilot Bert Mercer when he started the country's first licensed scheduled airline 75 years ago.

The first flight by Mercer's Air Travel (NZ) Ltd, on December 18, 1934, was from Hokitika, down the West Coast to Haast and that flight will be celebrated next weekend by members of Mr Mercer's family and aviation enthusiasts.

Mr Mercer's daughter, 95-year-old Marie Lindsay, of Christchurch, said she was looking forward to the event and to the chance of flying again in her father's Fox Moth.

"He just lived for aviation. He saw quite a few changes but if he was alive today and saw what was going on he'd have a fit."

According to a new book, New Zealand's First Airline - Hoki to Haast, written by the Rev Richard Waugh, of Christchurch, James Cutherbert Mercer was born at Caversham on September 16, 1886.

He was educated in Australia and Dunedin before beginning an apprenticeship in a bicycle shop.

Mr Waugh says Mr Mercer's interest in aviation stemmed from a flight, in Invercargill, in 1908, in a gas-filled balloon.

During World War 1, he joined the Canterbury Aviation Company flying school at Sockburn, Christchurch, as a mechanic and was issued with his pilot's licence in 1917, after 19 days' tuition and three hours' flying.

In 1920, Mr Mercer and another pilot made the first flight to Mount Cook and in 1921 he came to national prominence with a new one-day distance record, flying from Timaru to Auckland.

Finally, in 1934, Mr Mercer founded his own airline, Air Travel New Zealand.

While scheduled air services were operating between Dunedin and Christchurch as early as 1930, Mercer's West Coast service was the first licensed by the newly-formed transport co-ordination board.

Mr Waugh said at that time the aeroplane's ability to carry passengers was of less interest to the public than its ability to speed up the delivery of mail.

Mr Mercer's airline had to prove to the board it could operate economically and safely.

"This was really the start of modern airlines as we know them."

Mr Mercer's Fox Moth - capable of carrying four passengers - is now owned by the Croydon Aviation Heritage Trust, based at Mandeville.

Anniversary celebrations will begin at Hokitika on Thursday, December 17 with joyrides in a variety of historic de Havilland aircraft.

The flight from Hokitika to Haast will be re-enacted the next day.

mark.price@odt.co.nz