Breaking News

In the hurly burly of modern media, the theme of ‘breaking news’ resonates with the urgency and immediacy of an interconnected world. It encapsulates the dynamic nature of information dissemination, where stories unfold in real-time, grabbing attention and shaping perception. 

One hundred years ago in the aftermath of World War 1, the airplane and its rapidly advancing capabilities was often the subject of ‘breaking news’ around the world. Airplanes and their fearless pilots had conquered the Atlantic and flown from London to Australia. In 1924 the race was on to circumnavigate the globe by air.

This year marks the centenary of the first flight round the.world. https://www.firstworldflightcentennial.org/ Four Douglas Air Cruisers operated by the US Army Air Service, departed Seattle on April 6, 1924. They flew a westwards route that took them north to Alaska, along the Aleutian Islands to Russian Kamchatka and onto Japan. https://www.seattleworldcruiser.org/1924-world-flight-chronicle 

Three of the aircraft reached Kagoshima on 2nd June and from there they flew across China and India arriving in Brough, Yorkshire (near Hull in the UK), on 17th July. During the following two weeks, essential maintenance was performed and pontoons refitted in preparation for a continuation of the flight over the North Atlantic via Iceland and Greenland and onto the USA. 

One of the four planes crashed in Alaska, but the crew was rescued. A second aircraft ditched in the North Atlantic and the crew was picked up by the U.S. Navy.  The two remaining flight crews returned to a huge welcoming crowd in Seattle on September 28, 1924 after completing the epic 175 day, 26,345 mile journey and becoming the First to Fly Around the World.

So what is the significance of this..? Well, 2019 round the world flyer Barry Payne bazflyer.com will leave New Zealand later in May flying his trusty Piper Comanche, ZK-BAZ, to Mount Hagen in the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Here he will be joined by good friend Bob Bates http://www.pngtours.com/tours/Bobsflights.htm. Together they will fly a westwards World Flight closely reenacting the original 1924 flight route.

Step one will have Barry and Bob flying north of the Equator to arrive in Kagoshima, Japan, at the same time the original flyers were there 100 years previous. They will then traverse Russia meeting many aviators across the land and carry onto the UK landing at Breighton Airfield which is close to Brough. They will leave the UK late August, retracing the original flyer’s air path over the North Atlantic, across the USA all the way back to Seattle. 

After Seattle , Barry and Bob pickup the original 1924 route through Alaska, down the Aleutian Islands to Kamchatka and complete a full circle at Kagoshima. They are scheduled to arrive back in Mount Hagen on 28th September, the same day the two Douglas Air Cruiser’s landed back at Seattle in 1924 completing the First Flight Round the World.

Barry and Bob proudly represent the South Canterbury Aero Club, Timaru Airport, New Zealand. Also for the record book, the two flyers have a combined age of 161 years, and 105 years pilot experience.

'Breaking News', Blogs and YouTube video along the journey can be accessed at www.bazflyer.com. Click "Follow" to be notified.

Preparing the trusty Comanche
for a second World Flight

Douglas Air Cruiser

The 1924 flight route

Bob and Barry (Baz)

Unsung Héros

 In a speech on August 20, 1940, Winston Churchill delivered his now iconic and famous line, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”. He was of course, addressing the heroic efforts of the Royal Air Force and its pilots of various nationalities, who during World War II courageously fought in the Battle of Britain. 

The aerial battle raged for one-hundred days over the summer of 1940. A symphony of courage and determination that unfolded amidst the billowing clouds and echoing thunder of powerful aircraft engines. A sky full of Spitfires and Hurricanes, like agile dancers, pirouetting in a deadly duel with the Luftwaffe's menacing Messerschmitts. The skies above Britain became a canvas for a masterpiece of human resilience and valour. It was a battle not just of aircraft, but much more significantly, it was a testament to the triumph of human spirit against overwhelming odds. 

Eighty-three years after Winston Churchill’s speech, we still continue to ponder his words, particularly on Battle of Britain Day, commemorated annually on the 15th September. Just a small handful of the people addressed in his speech are still alive today. However, Churchill’s words are just as applicable to everyday life, in every community, everywhere.

All around us, often unnoticed, are selfless Individuals who willingly give up their own personal interests, comfort, or well-being for the greater good of society or a specific cause. This can take many forms, such as individuals dedicating their time, resources, or even their lives to help others, to resolve conflicts or advance particular social or humanitarian goals. 

Unsung hero’s seamlessly interlace every community and immeasurably enhance our everyday life. So, in an adaption of Winston Churchill’s words…”Everywhere on every day, so much is owed by so many of us to so few”.

A couple of hero's from the Battle of Britain. F/O Alan (Al) Deere (NZ) & F/O Colin Townsend Gray (NZ) - 54 Squadron RAF

Everyday heroes in our community...paramedic volunteers helping the the sick and injured. 

The summit of Mt Cook is 3724m (12.217 ft). It is literally the top of New Zealand and you can’t get any higher in the New Zealand to rescue anyone. The injured man was stuck on the very top of the mountain. 

Taupo based Greenlea Rescue Helicopter attending an accident scene where a person sustained multiple serious injuries. 

Spitfire as flown in the Battle of Britain (New Zealand Air Force Collection) 

First of May

Tomorrow is the 1st of May and ‘Down Under’, using the Southern Hemisphere colloquialism referring to New Zealand and Australia, this day signals the end of summer weather with the next winter waiting in the wings.

In a Northern Hemisphere environment the 1st of May, also known as May Day, traditionally celebrates Spring and the coming of Summer. In some countries it is recognised as a day to honour workers.

However, for myself, the day always brings to life that hauntingly beautiful song, “The 1st of May”, written and sung by Robin Gibb one of the three brothers who made up the Bee Gees. I well remember the song being released in 1969, it was the same year I begun flying as a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Airforce. 

The song’s lyrics emotionally describe the passing of time, the joy and renewal it brings and the importance of appreciating life's fleeting moments.

Now we are tall, and Christmas trees are small

And you don't ask the time of day

But you and I, our love will never die

But guess we'll cry come first of May

So no matter where you are in the world on the 1st May, whether the day is opening the door for you to Winter or Summer, it is a perfect occasion to reflect on the idea that life is fleeting and that we should cherish each moment while we can…the Bazflyers shall.

Here are some recent cherished moments in flight…

….and one for the First of May, where it is Autumn down under.

Taupō Airport

Airports exist all over the world. More than 40,000 of them in all manner of places. Some are huge and others are small. Together they cater for approximately 100,000 aircraft flights every day.

The busiest airport in the world is Atlanta International, except for just one week in July each year when that statistic belongs to Oshkosh Airport in Wisconsin. The annual EAA Oshkosh Airshow is a magnet for more than 10,000 aircraft.

In the world of airports, whether big or small, it is hardly an every day occurrence for the airport’s principal passenger terminal to close with the departure of a flight, then reopen in a new building located next door for the arrival of the next flight. This phenomena recently occurred on Taupo Airport…home base for the Bazflyers.

Change, of course, is a constantly occurring theme but transiting is often said to be the art of change. It is the important element making a successful connection from the old to the new and in this regard it can be fairly stated that moving from the old Taupō Airport Terminal to the new one was an “artful transition”. 

Taupō Airport might not be a record setter in any sense of the meaning, its definitely not a big airport, but its new airport terminal is certainly an individual statement in art. Not only is the building an architectural design reflecting Taupo’s volcanic environment, but a huge unique sculpture by famous New Zealand potter, Barry Brickell, adorns an interior wall. Saved from the scrap yard by a local businessman, Brickell’s A Study in Volcanology is one of 11 large pottery works he produced in his lifetime.

“A Study in Volcanology” terracotta mural by Barry Brickell

Commissioned by the Taupō Post Office in 1985, the imposing Brickell work stands 3.6 metres tall. It was split into two panels that sat either side of the building’s entrance. Subsequently, when the Post Office closed the panels were removed and reinstalled in a carpark where they languished until in 2014 the owner of the carpark advised it was going to be demolished.

Local businessman, Chris Johnston, has a deep interest in the arts and was aware of the significance of the Brickell artwork. It features 54 handcrafted terracotta tiles which collectively create a depiction of Lake Taupō, its surrounds and what lies beneath. It was based on Brickell’s own theory of volcanology.

Johnston arranged for the developer to let him know when demolition was planned so the artwork could be saved. Then, about a year later, Johnston got a call to say bulldozers were on the site and work was about to get underway. As it turned out the site owner had instructed the demolition contractor to take Brickell’s artwork to the landfill along with other waste from the demolition site.

Negotiation ensued. Johnston paid $4000 removal costs to become the owner of a work of art potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, the tiles that made up the artwork stored in one of the businessman’s buildings, were stuck fast to large concrete panels and needed significant work to remove and repair.

Brickell died in 2016 at the age of 80. A few years later, Johnston arranged for conservation experts to remove the 54 terracotta tiles from the heavy concrete slabs they had been glued to. It was a complicated project, with a number of the tiles breaking and needing to be repaired.

The completed restoration now occupies a prominent place in the new Taupō Airport Terminal, where it can be viewed as one piece like it was always meant to be.

Final flight from the old Terminal

First flight at the new Terminal

Artful transition from the old Terminal to operations at Te Taunga Waka Rererangi o Taupō

Silver Aviators

Phantom Eagle and Captain America, both famous comic book superheroes, fertilised the imaginations of many young boys, and no doubt a few girls, growing up in the 1950’s. The Silver Aviator may not be comparable to the comic book superhero, but is nevertheless uniquely a product of those times…a baby-boomer still ‘waggling wings’. 

Silver Aviators, lived youth in an era of post-war optimism. Those exciting and innovating days of the 1950’s and 1960’s when aircraft manufacturers were churning out shiny new models at a prolific rate and birthing entire new categories of aeroplanes. Silver Aviators have each occupied a formative step on the ladder of aviation history when the idolised backdrop of wartime air aces merged with dreams of flying freedom. The dream of; “I am going to be a pilot”….has metaphorically fire-walled many throttles on the way to a life-long aviation love affair.

Age data on aircraft pilot’s is relatively easy to obtain. For example, U.S. statistics list the average age for all US pilots at approximately 45 years. Then, to cap that off there are over 1,600 pilots around the world who count themselves as members of one of the the world's most distinguished pilot organisations, the United Flying Octogenarians. Each of its members having flown as pilot in command after reaching their 80th birthday.

Silver Aviator’s are undoubtedly septuagenarians. Baby boomers outwardly exhibiting the ravages of their age but when it comes to flying an airplane they are inwardly many years younger. They are a unique genre of pilots drenched in the spirit of the noblest of superheroes, while harbouring an irresistible passion to fly an airplane and ‘waggle wings’.

A group of mates and Silver Aviators still ‘waggling wings’.

Silver Aviator, ‘Young Bob’ flys his Baron in the mountains of Papua New Guinea and is an United Flying Octogenarian.

Bazflyers qualify as Silver Aviators

Fifties comic book superhero “Captain America”

Cloud Piecer

Alpine mountains, at this time of the year all cloaked in pristine white snow, dominate the landscape surrounding Twizel. Visibly sentinel above all is New Zealand’s highest peak, Mount Cook at 12,218 feet (3,724 metres). History attributes the first sighting of this pointed peak to the British explorer, Captain James Cook in 1767. However, long before that time it had been indelibly imbedded in Māori myth as Aoraki, meaning the “Cloud Piecer”.

The first known ascent of Aoraki occurred on Christmas Day 1894. Sixteen years later in December 1910, Freda Du Faur an Australian, became the first woman to ascend the mountain. Aoraki Mount Cook and its surrounding peaks were also the training grounds of famous New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary. Hillary went on to be the first person in the world to summit Mount Everest successfully. and in recent years Aoraki Mount Cook has gone on to challenge hundreds more ambitious mountaineers.

Aoraki is considered a technically challenging mountain. Since the early 20th century, about 80 people have died attempting to climb the mountain, making it New Zealand's deadliest peak. Many more have died climbing in the locality and hardly a season goes by without at least one fatality. 

Beginning from the late 1960’s helicopters have beneficially been used to save many lives on Aoraki Mount Cook. A few such missions in the early seventies involved RNZAF Huey (UH-1) helicopters some of them flown at the time by Bazflyer1. In later years Bazflyer1 could also have been spotted flying AS350 and AS355 helicopters around the “Cloud Piecer” with tourists onboard.

The “Cloud Piecer” bathed in sunset pastel as viewed across Lake Pukaki

Aoraki Mount Cook up close

“Cloud Piecer” dominates the local landscape


Evening colours over lake Pukaki 


Approaching the “Cloud Piecer” in BAZ at 8,500 feet earlier this year

Twizel Time

Occasionally it becomes a choice to leave the Comanche at home. This recently occurred when the Bazflyers accepted an assignment to spend a month in Twizel looking after two ‘grand-dogs’ named Brydie and Lola. 

Nestled up against the might Southern Alps, Twizel is the small town that was never meant to be. Born in the late ’60’s as a temporary settlement to house workers constructing a nearby hydroelectric scheme, it was intended to be demolished when its purpose had been fulfilled. However, twenty years later the remaining residents successfully fought to ensure their beloved community was saved…Twizel is nowadays home to around 1,600 residents and accommodates many more itinerant visitors during holiday periods.

As an interesting aside, the town’s name comes from the nearby Twizel River, in turn named after the historic Twizel Bridge in Northumberland that the Bazflyers visited during their 2019 Round the World flight.

One of New Zealand’s iconic bike trails, Alps to Ocean, conveniently bisects Twizel. The lure of this more than 300 kilometre bike ride along rough high country trails and tracks was more than Bazflyer1 could resist. In keen anticipation the mountain bike also travelled by vehicle from the Bazbase. Why else would the Comanche be left at home in the hangar…?

Twizel is more than 1,000 kms by road and a ferry journey across Cook Strait from the Bazbase.

The township of Twizel is snuggled up against the Southern Alps


Reflections captured along the trail


Mount Cook at 12,218 feet (3,724 m) is New Zealand’s highest mountain viewed here on a cloudless day while out biking.


Bazflyer1 with his YT ‘Decoy’ mountain bike 

Looking along the trail ahead


The ‘grand-dogs’, Brydie (left) and Lola (right)