Welcome to the Kiwi Beavers Website.
                                                                          This site is dedicated to the De Havilland Beaver aircraft that were registered in New Zealand.          
                                            You will find each individual Beaver
here.  There are photos of other aircraft also used for Topdressing here and here.
                                                                                                       You can also use the buttons above to navigate the site.














                                    
                                                                                                                                                                                     

































Disclaimer:












































(All content copyright Graeme Mills)
I have undertaken to ensure that the information on this website is accurate. The reader acknowledges that kiwibeavers.com and/or any of the contributors to these pages cannot be
considered liable for any action resulting from any information published on the kiwibeavers website. When you use any information obtained from this website, you do so at your own risk.
(You may use any images on this site for your own personal use. For any commercial use, posting on other sites or reproduction, please
contact the author.)

Thanks to the following people for their time and effort getting images and information to me.

Bill Luther in Auckland, NZ whom I loaded for in 1985-86 and 1997-98
Neville Worsley in Rotorua, NZ for the majority of pics on this site and numerous phone calls and stories
Lenn Bayliss up in Toowoomba, Queensland. A great photographer and an even greater bloke!!
Allister Jenks for his photos of BBX. Allister has an amazing site
ZK-ARJ
"Spud" Tait in Gisborne NZ who has given me a heap of stuff!! He has "The Toolshed" there.
Neil Aird in Kingston, Toronto, Canada for his support and allowing the use of his photos
                                                        which are also on his massive Beaver Site
DHC-2.com
Andy Stevenson in Gisborne, NZ of Farmers Air
Phil Goodwin in Gisborne, NZ who drove for Cooksons a while back
Peter Lewis in Auckland, NZ for his amazing clean shots from yester-year
Lance Harding up at Warwick, Queensland for his photos of his father John flying BXN and photos of other aircraft.
Lou Forhecz in Greytown, NZ for his images and videos
Bob Cranston in Masterton, NZ who has just retired after a lifetime of Ag flying
Doug Sklenars up in Rosedale, Queensland, at least I think he's still there. Doug flew Beavers for a while
Bob Allen also up that way in Cooroy, Queensland, one of Fieldair's first Beaver pilots
Peter Brown in Dalby, Queensland for his DVD's and photos
Paul Corrin in Gisborne, NZ who is part of the GAPS Museum there
Harley Cadwallader in Napier, NZ and ex Beaver & DC3 pilot
Barry Christie up in Walcha, NSW who owned ex ZK-AZB
Ray Deerness in Wanganui, NZ who has pictures and info on every aircraft in NZ and elsewhere
Darby Dunstan in Gisborne NZ an ex Engineer
Derek Erskine in Wellington NZ who flew Beavers
Jim Frogley in Havelock North NZ who owns ZK-BBX which is still used for topdressing
Janic Geelen in Auckland NZ who wrote the Topdressers books. His site is
here
Pete Gordon who is flying Choppers in Taupo, NZ
Granville Jones in Gisborne NZ
Owen Martin in Leeton NSW
Les Marshall in Auckland NZ for organising photos of the Warbirds Beaver at Ardmore
Trevor Nixon in Taihape NZ who has driven for John Harding for decades!!
Peter Ritter in Marton NZ
Mark Pothan in Fielding NZ for his wonderful shots of CMU and CGX back in 1965
Bruce Thompson in Gisborne who flew for Fieldair for over 30 years
Clive Thorne in Masterton NZ
Frank Wright in Tauranga for his photos of some of his great restoration work over the years. Good luck with the latest addition Frank.
Paul Rickard from the Gisborne Herald
Colin Hunter from Papakura who is an Ace photographer
Hallett Griffin at Kairanga for purchasing AZB.....again!!
Tony Field in Gisborne for some of Lawson Field's photo albums and photos.
Alain Rioux in Canada for his glorious shots. Fantastic work Alain.
Colin Sutherland in Rotorua for his shots of BDI and AZB.
Clive Wilkinson from Aviation News for photos from the 60th Ag Aviation Reunion
Don Selby at Pahiatua for updated info on CFU and his magnificent photo collection.
Keith Turner in Masterton who flew CPS for a short time.
Nigel White in Wellington for great photos of AZB, BXN and N34EB.
John and Mark Funnell for photos of  
FPZ
Ian Alexander in Perth. Ian was an Engineer in Gisborne 1969-74
Guy Stevenson of
Kiwi Air for the Cresco line-up at Napier 03/06/2009
Chris Newey for the photos of 2 Beavers operating in Fiji
Dave Bates in Wellington for over 100 top quality, magnificent photos from his vast collection
Ray Deerness in Wanganui who has photos of everything with wings and rotors.
Bryan Ancrum who drove for Doug Sklenars 1970-71
Mike Stokes whose father flew CRE in 1987
Dave Marshall in Tauranga for his DC3 photos
Wayne Greaves of Gisborne who drove Fieldair loaders for 9 years
Mark Blok in Canada for his photos of CRE's rebuild 2009/10
Graeme Foley in Gisborne who loaded the big boys from 1973 onwards.
Counter
                                    Kiwi Beavers
Blokes and Sheilas so far
(Gotta catch Neil Aird up!!)
Put together by:
Graeme Mills NSW  Australia  e-mail
Had a fantastic day 10/01/08 with ex ZK-CKD at Rose Bay, Sydney.
Thanks to Steve Krug and Jenny for an unforgettable scenic
flight up to Palm Beach and return. More photos on
CKD's page.
www.sydneybyseaplane.com
Received this book
from Lou Forhecz in
Upper Hutt, 50 Years of
the Fletcher.
You can contact Lou

here
LAWSON FIELD REUNION
The 61st Anniversary celebration of Lawson and his pioneering efforts in the
topdressing industry is to be held in Gisborne October 23-25 2010

Christchurch based Southern DC3 AMY has been secured for this event
departing Christchurch  Friday October 22nd
Contact Ian Garlick for info here  ianandjan52@hotmail.com
  • DC3 is full from Blenheim -
  • Another trip south is being arranged
--------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday October 23 Meet & Greet & Registration
at
The Bushmere Arms Hotel   10am
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday October 2010 Static Aircraft Display At Gisborne Airport 9am
(The static display and Aerial Display Demo are private events for Reunion attendees only)
Followed by the Formal Dinner at The Bushmere Arms 6pm
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • Monday Oct. 25 a farewell morning tea, venue TBA. 10am
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • Registration has closed, limit has been met. Standby list in place

Contact organiser Graeme Mills by e-mail  here  if
you would like to be put on a waiting list

or Neville Worsley - Rotorua   +61-07-345-5776
or Paul Corrin - Gisborne  +61 06-867-7118

Check out more details on this Reunion page

-------------------------------------------------------------

Portside Hotel accommodation "special deal"

Forms and documents are here

(Requires Microsoft Word)

Website is :     
www.portsidegisborne.co.nz

--------------------------------------------------------------

Gisborne Motels here or here  

---------------------------------------------------------------

Gisborne Bus and Travel services here

http://www.gisbornenz.com/default.asp?id=37

---------------------------------------------------------------

Air New Zealand Link Services to gisborne can be arranged
through the Air NZ website

http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/

The Immortal Beaver is
available on DVD. A
great story about a
Beaver rescued from
the Arizona desert and
Starring my buddy
Harrison Ford.....!!
The DVD is available
here.
A list of current
Beavers on the
Australian
Register can be
viewed here
If you are ever in Sydney, a flight with Steve is a must.
AZB is coming home
Job all but done. The
AirAg crew. I'm in the
front with the yellow
overalls and John Land
is directly behind me.  
More photos
here
Latest Updates and Images 6th March 2010 in
Ozzie Stuff
& ZK-AMY
2 videos in .avi format, one of Bill
Luther in DC3 BBJ and the other of
John Riddell arriving at Gisborne 1966
in new Beaver CRE. These files are
huge and require broadband!!
Ouch!! AWP shows off the
damage when the hopper
hydraulics malfunctioned I
hope you bought a Golden
Kiwi that day Bas. 13th
Nov 1976 at Gisborne    
©via Derek Lewis & Nick
Nicholson                     

(This is not a porn site as suggested by a few visitors and relatives!!)
Owen Martin
2 lovely photos from Margrit
Martin down in Leeton NSW.
Husband Owen, who flew for
Cooksons and Fieldair loves
the wallpaper in his Nursing
Home Unit. This is why I do
this website caper.  © M.Martin
Top photo is Owen in a
Cookson's Fletcher
1960's
Frank Wright's Beaver AQA will
be better than new very soon.
Fuselage seen on 19th August
2009 and after the fin was put on
11th December 2009
© Frank Wright
More pics
here
2 photos of a GMC Loader truck
which was used from 1950.
Myles Briant owns this flat-bed
in Whitianga and is fully
registered and mobile. Photos
taken with Dave Phillip's Tiger
BEN.
Below is a photo from Phil
Goodwin which is the same
loader in operation
Whitianga ECAS Loader
ZK-AQA's progress
DC3 AWP
Incident 1976
The Last DC3 Recovery
Above: Graeme Mills and  Ralph Crystall
Spent the day 20/02/2010 down at Warnervale with Ralph, helping prepare DC3
VH-DNF for transportation to Ralph's Molong property to join 4 others. I spent
most of the day removing some of the 730 wing bolts while Ralph removed both
props and other bits        © Graeme Mills
Wednesday 24/02/2010 the convoy left
Warnervale  at 1.15am heading to Maitland via
the F3 Freeway, arriving at 2.30am Had to wait
there until 9.30am before starting the 2nd leg
                     
continued.........
DNF Moved To Molong
Daylight at Maitland with the crew, from left:
Ben (Pilot #2), Ralph (Truck driver),Paddy
(Pilot #4), John, (Pilot #1) and Highway Patrol
Officer Craig from Wyong.
Through Jerrys Plains and on towards
Denman. Over the Denman bridge to Sandy
Hollow which is where I left them ETA Molong
4.30pm. Ralph has made a special cradle to
support the fuselage.
Contact him here
3 photos of AZB  when with Hallett Griffin
back in the 1990's. Flown by Hallett
spraying potatoes and Mike Cronin
sowing Urea        © Andrew Guylee
Good friend's Kerry
& Lou Forhecz sent
me this lovely photo
of their daughter
Alice taken at 5
months.
Beaver AZB "landed" at
Napier wharf on Thursday
the 25th of February safe
and sound. It may be
reassembled by Flight
Care at Napier Airport.
2 photos inside and out of AMY
at Wigram 31/08/2008 sent in by
Alex Liggett      © Alex Liggett
Granville Jones sent me these photos of DC3 AMY while
on her visit to Gisborne.
 Local identity Bruce Thompson
is pictured on the right.
        © G. Jones

             More photos are
here on AMY's page