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.















                                                                                                                                                

































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.
Bob Allen up in Cooroy, Queensland, one of Fieldair's first pilots.
Craig Emeny who now owns DC3 ex AWP, the only airworthy Fieldair DC3 left.
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   11am
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 5.30pm
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • Monday Oct. 25 a farewell morning tea, to be held at the GAPS
    Museum from 9.30am. Some aircraft may be involved in Scenic Flights
    or "refresher" courses.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • Contact organiser Graeme Mills by e-mail  here  if
you would like to register
or Neville Worsley - Rotorua   +61-07-345-5776
or Paul Corrin - Gisborne  +61 06-867-7118

This event is not just for Fieldair employees, it is open to anyone involved in
the industry.

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/
available on DVD. A
great story about a
Beaver rescued from
The Immortal Beaver is
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.
Latest Updates and Images 97th July 2010 in CKC and CGX plus more
photos added in
Lenn Bayliss Collection
Owen Martin
Some neat photos from Margrit
Martin down in Leeton NSW.
Husband Owen, who flew for
Cooksons and Fieldair, loves
this website caper.  © M.Martin
Top photo is Owen in a
Cookson's Fletcher 1960's

Holdings" or "Freightways N.Z." have no affiliation with this event.
Guy Stevenson's Winjeel at the
Warbirds Over Wanaka Easter weekend
                             © Zac Yates                  
More photos
here
Lodestar BJM at Napier August
Darby Dunstan, a Lands & Survey
Rep and Bob Allen.



Bob Allen seen here in 1954 with
AZB, "when we were both in our
prime" according to Bob.


Pilot Bob Allen, DHC NZ
Representative Mr. RW Jamieson,
Ken Spence, Manager of Waipaoa
Station and Station owner John
Clark in front of Beaver BFN,
March 1955

The boys from Waipaoa Station
who were on hand during the
fence dropping.

More photos on
BFN's page here
AZB awaiting the transporter
to be taken back to Hallett's
Kairanga base for the new
paint job.  © Alison Griffin




Chathams Pacific's DC3 ex ZK-AWP has just had a major
refurbishment up in Tonga. Photos taken May 6th 2010

Thanks to Craig Emeny for the photos
Photos from Peter Allomes who drove the loader in these
shots.




He is seen loading a DC3 at Masterton.
BBJ and Bruce Thompson at Gisborne 1985
© G Mill
s
Follow this link to watch a short video of a
Beaver floatplane on the news in Canada.
Click on "
taking to the skies in the Beaver
airplane
" under the video player
CKC being assembled at Rongotai 1964
                                              © Nick Parkinson
                                                   via Neil Aird



CKC at Rongotai 1964        © Nick Parkinson
                                                      via Neil Aird
Ex CGX taken at Calgary Springbank
Airport July 22 2010.

More photos
here

Thanks to John Olafson for these
superb shots.

© J. Olafson