And Beavers, and Lodestars and earlier than that, Tiger Moths.
It was Arthur Baker from Cambridge who hit upon the idea when he returned from the war where he’d been in the RNZAF. He wasn’t an RNZAF pilot, but was actually into earthmoving. He was a farmer prewar and had bought a huge piece of land that needed breaking in. He’d bought an earthmover to help, and soon found his neighbours were hiring him to do their land too.
When war came he joined one of the aerodrome construction squadrons i believe where his skills were put to good use. When he returned to his farm he was so busy with earthmoving business he looked to a quicker way of spreading the fert. He had taken up flying at some point and had a Tiger moth. So he flew it, and another ex-RNZAF chap sat in the front with a sack and a scoop and he bailed it out onto the land. Not sure at this stage who the second guy was, but when they realised they were onto something Ossie James became involved. Maybe he was the other guy? They knew there were loads of Tiger Moths not being used in the RNZAF any more, so approached them. The Air Force took up the idea and the Government sponsored trials using the Avengers, as some of their pilots had experience with spraying Japanese crops with diesel during the war so they thought this was similar type of flying.
It worked, and the Tigers were released in the dozens for topdressing. The big companies were James Aviation and Feildair, the latter flew the DC3s and Beavers. And man, they would wingover the DC3’s like nobody’s business. I have seen an awesome video of the last DC3 crop dusting operation before they retired to freight work. Sadly Dad no longer has that tape. It was in rugged hill country near Gisborne.
PS: See these links – Feildair topdresser photos
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/pictures/zk-caw.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/pictures/zk-apb.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/pictures/zk-bbj-1.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/pictures/dc3-5.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/pictures/dc3-6.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/pictures/beaver-1.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/pictures/zk-azb.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/pictures/zk-bjm.jpg
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~av8or/GAPS/pictures/zk-bjm2.jpg
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