1929: One Day Flight
April 15, 2022
By AHNZ
New Zealand was excited to participate in the new age of aviation. If only the Government would get out of the way! Today in history, 15 April, 1929, history was made when two men flew from Christchurch to Auckland in a single day.
Auckland Aero Club committee member Spencer Mason and club instructor Major Gerald Cowper received the aircraft in Canterbury from the Government which wished to keep a tight control on avionics supply. Doubtless it arrived in Lyttleton by ship and now it had to be transported to the Aero Club at Mangare. What better way than to create a new record and fly it up?
Knowing the government as we do the delivery of ZK-AAK, the Club’s third De Havilland DH-60G Gipsy Moth, was probably late and the gentlemen probably hoped to fly earlier in the year before the cold weather came. Apart from anything else, the newspaper picture shows this Gipsy Moth had an open air cockpit. Who wants eight hours of cold wind in the face? Cowper was also the first man to fly up central Australia from Adelaide to Birdsville which is about double the distance achieved on his 1929 flight.¹
“AUCKLAND, April 15. Major G. A. C. Cowper, instructor for the Auckland Aero Club, and Mr Spencer Mason, a member of the committee, who left Wigram aerodrome at 6.30 this morning, arrived at Mangere aerodrome Auckland, shortly after five o’clock this evening. The actual time spent in the air on the 550 miles journey was eight hours, stops being made at Blenheim and Hawera. This is a record one-day flight for the Dominion.” – ONE-DAY FLIGHT. RECORD FOR DOMINION; Per Press Association, Manawatu Standard (1929); Papers Past
It was still early days in April 1929 for New Zealand aviation. On 25 August, 1920, Canterbury aviator Captain Euan Dickson flew the Cook Straight successfully. On 4 October, 1921, George Bolt flew from Auckland to Wellington in a single day. Invercargill to Auckland had been achieved in 1921 but over 2 days. The Government had been disruptive in nationalising New Zealand’s private flight schools in 1924. Private people wanted to fly and give the industry the economic lifeblood it needed but the Government, pretending to know what it was talking about, stopped this from happening by having the Transport Board refuse applications for regular airline services.
Crossing the Tasman Sea had been attempted from Australia in January 1928 without success. The crew of John Moncrieff and George Hood have never been seen again after leaving Sydney. The Australian Charles Kingsford Smith had flown his Southern Cross on September 11 of 1928 with success and great excitement on the part of New Zealanders. This is probably what helped loosen up Joe Ward’s Government into granting Auckland Aero Club its plane. It had been nearly a decade since New Zealand based pilots could show that they could achieve pioneering feats and high time The State let the flaps down for Kiwis to take off.
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1 Ref. Sun (1929); Papers Past
Image ref. Auckland Star (18 April 1929,) Papers Past
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