Otago`s home-grown aeroplanes - Sport Aircraft Association New

Otago’s home-grown aeroplanes
Text: Keith Morris
Photographs: Williams family collection
Geoff Williams’s Mk 1 was certainly solidly built.
Geoff in his Mk 1 on the beach.
embers of the Otago homebuilt aircraft movement
have known for many years about a series built in
Dunedin and flown, quietly and unregistered, from
the 1970s to the 1990s, but little information about them
has surfaced publicly.
Four aeroplanes were all designed and constructed by the
late Geoff Williams who worked for Nees Furniture Makers of
Dunedin and then for several years as a farm hand at Tarras
in Central Otago before returning to Dunedin. His grandfather
was a carpenter and used to make ships in bottles and bigger
models, very good ones. He and Geoff always got along well
and they started making model ships together, and Geoff
went on to build model aeroplanes.
Geoff gained his passion for aircraft from his father,
Rodney Williams, a World War II Lancaster pilot with 90
Squadron RAF, awarded the DFC in 1945. Rodney Williams
was also awarded the MBE in 1964 for his service to 26
(Oamaru) Squadron of the Air Training Corps.
As an ATC cadet Geoff built model gliders of up to around
8ft wingspan, one of which got away in a thermal, never to be
seen again. He started building his first full-size aeroplane
at the age of 19 after his father died.
Geoff had poor eyesight, and it is said that he got another
boy to take and pass the ATC eyesight test for him. His father
was somewhat surprised that Geoff had passed the test but
did not take it further. Geoff is thought to have flown for
about six hours in the ATC, possibly in Harvards at Oamaru
and probably with his father. This seems to be his only early
flying experience, but it was apparent that he was a natural
pilot.
Geoff designed all of his four aeroplanes himself, as well as
designing and making all his propellers (of which he needed
a fair number!). His brother Richard says he was clever with
calculations and in being able to find out how things work.
He also made flying models of all his aircraft before he built
the full-size versions.
He was a rapid aircraft builder. He started making his
first at 83 Ravenswood Road, Dunedin, in August 1969 and
had it finished by the following May. Number one was a small
single-seat biplane which he assembled at Papanui Inlet on
Otago Peninsula and attempted to fly from the beach there.
When a local farmer saw what was happening he suggested
that Geoff would be better to try to fly off Sam Neill’s airstrip
at adjacent Hooper’s Inlet, the other main indentation on the
eastern side of the peninsula. In June 1970 the biplane was
towed along the road to Hooper’s Inlet where Geoff built an
open hangar from materials from the old Dunedin Training
College which had been burned down, with doors from the
old Dunedin Fire Station making up the rear wall.
Sam’s brother Yvo also kept his Tiger Moth in the hangar,
and Sam recalls that Geoff was a very humble person.
This first aeroplane was powered by a Volkswagen engine
The airstrip on the Hooper’s Inlet farm still exists, although the hangar
erected by Geoff has since been demolished.
Mk 2 is run up in front of the hangar.
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Spring 2014 SPORT FLYING
Landed through a fence because of oil on the windscreen.
driving a wooden propeller and it looked to be well and solidly
built. Photos exist of it in the Hooper’s Inlet/Papanui Inlet
area up until 1971, and one photo shows it at speed on takeoff
with its tail raised. However, it is understood that it never
flew very successfully, most likely for reasons of weight.
So in October 1971 Geoff began building his second
aeroplane at 323 Stuart Street, Dunedin. One tale from this
time was that Geoff started the engine in the house (a student
flat) and the prop wash blew all the scrim off the walls!
This second aircraft was a single-seat high-wing strutbraced design apparently based on the Tomboy model
aeroplane of the time. It also was powered by a Volkswagen
engine, most probably the engine from his first effort. Again
it was built quickly and was finished by January 1973,
assembled at the Hooper’s Inlet strip and having its first
flight on 11 April 1973.
Number two flew successfully, although it did suffer
several incidents around Otago Peninsula. It force landed
and went through a fence on 24 May 1973 when oil from
the engine covered the windscreen, and a forced landing
the following month on Allan’s Beach, on the seaward side
of Hooper’s Inlet, was caused by running out of petrol. This
resulted in damage to the undercarriage and windscreen, but
after temporary repairs, which included the windscreen being
held in place with rope, it was flown back to the airstrip.
A more successful landing on the flats of the inlet occurred
two weeks later. The engine stopped just after takeoff, but
turning the fuel on cured the problem.
More serious damage was done on 13 September 1973
when it overturned in the surf while being taxied on Allan’s
Beach, but it was quickly repaired as Geoff flew it to
Queenstown, where it was photographed at Jardine’s gliding
strip in January 1974. It also flew more widely afield that
year, including a trip to Five Forks in North Otago, where
Geoff had grown up.
Following the flight to Queenstown the CAD threatened
Geoff with prosecution, with the result that he signed a
document to the effect that he would no longer fly this aircraft
— and he never did. It was dismantled in the hangar at
Hooper’s Inlet in 1977, along with his first aircraft, and later
both were burnt. In later years the hangar became dilapidated
and, stripped of its roof and walls, eventually collapsed.
But Geoff Williams started building aeroplanes again as
Heavy landing on Allan’s Beach, after running out of fuel, resulted in
damaged undercarriage and windscreen …
… but never mind — temporary repairs and we’re away again.
he had not undertaken that he would not fly another of his
own designs. Mark 3 was built at 153 Highgate in Roslyn,
Dunedin, during the period 1975–1977. It was assembled at
Hooper’s Inlet and first flew there during May 1977.
This aeroplane was a low-wing single-seater along the
lines of a Corby Starlet, again powered by Volkswagen. It first
flew on 22 May 1977 but on a flight the next day it failed to
remain airborne and was damaged. It was repaired and flown
on 31 July 1977 by Geoff from Hooper’s Inlet to Tarras in
Central Otago, a long cross-country of more than 200km in
a straight line.
However, in the Lindis Pass area he was caught in a rising
valley situation and crash-landed on the hillside, wisely not
trying to turn back and stalling in the process.
This time the damage was more substantial and Geoff had
a rethink. When it appeared again in January 1979 it was
reconfigured as a high-wing parasol aeroplane, but it still
suffered from major problems and crashed yet again on its
first flight from Tarras, after having flown only a mile or so.
At this point he gave up on his number three, the fuselage
of which is still in the back of a Taieri hangar.
A period of flying other microlights followed, including
an apparently unregistered Skycraft Scout which was flown
Geoff Williams (left) and J. Turnbull at Ruddenclau’s strip, Five Forks.
SPORT FLYING Spring 2014
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Mk 3 was never a great success, being underpowered. First it failed to
remain airborne off the Hooper’s Inlet strip …
Geoff never married, but he appears to have had cooperative flatmates
in the various Dunedin houses. Mk 4, by far the most successful, takes
shape inside 56 Hocken Street in 1990 using some imported parts and a
wing design based on the Sisler Cygnet.
… and, after conversion to a parasol wing at Tarras after crashing in the
Lindis Pass, crashed again on its first flight …
Bob Gibson
… and is now stored in a forgotten corner of a Taieri hangar.
by various pilots from the Hooper’s Inlet strip and adjacent
beaches, also suffering several adventures.
However, Geoff still wasn’t finished with building
aeroplanes, and in May 1988 materials arrived from the USA
at Dunedin’s 56 Hocken Street for the start of Williams Mark
4. The house had the luxury of a basement so the project
didn’t have to occupy his bedroom, although the wings were
covered in the kitchen.
This aeroplane was more like a conventional high-wing
pusher microlight and turned out to be his most successful
effort. Another single-seater, it was powered by a Rotax 447
and, like all of his designs, had a fabric-covered all-wood
Not only the Williams Mks 1, 2 and 3 suffered indignities. Yvo Neill, a
Tiger Moth pilot, has just demonstrated unfamiliarity with the Skycraft
Scout’s motorcycle controls at Hooper’s Inlet.
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structure. The wing aerofoil, dimensions and construction
techniques were copied from the Sisler Cygnet that Alex
Armstrong was building in Dunedin at the time.
Engine runs were carried out in the back yard of 56
Hocken Street in December 1990 and it was assembled at
the Hooper’s Inlet strip in late January 1991. It first flew from
there on 24 January 1991, and Geoff flew it cross-country
around the outskirts of Dunedin on 27 January and on to
Lee Stream in Central Otago, a distance of around 40km.
Later in 1991 he flew it extensively around the lower South
Island, including flights to Tarras, Five Rivers and even to
Stewart Island in December.
The Mark 4 is rumoured at some stage to have been fitted
with a machine gun and was used for shooting geese!
During the 1990s the aeroplane was kept at an airstrip
on Monterey Station at Lee Stream, inland from Outram,
under the shelter of macrocarpa trees and covered from the
elements and birds. Geoff and some friends would go up
there in the weekends and fly it, and over the next 10 years
or so it was flown for around 250hr.
Various people have described Geoff Williams’ last flight
in his Mark 4. Suffering from cancer, he was very ill in
the hospice when he asked a friend to fly the aircraft back
to Taieri and for someone to refurbish it. Despite Geoff’s
condition, his friend said to him, “Why don’t you fly it back
to Taieri yourself?”
And that is what they did. They drove to the airstrip at
Monterey and his friend strapped Geoff in and started the
engine, and Geoff flew it back to Taieri with all his remaining
energy. People at Taieri recall that when the strange aeroplane
landed and nobody emerged, they went out to investigate and
had to carry Geoff from his cockpit.
He died in May 2002 and his ashes are buried at the airstrip
at Monterey Station, under the trees where he used to keep his
aircraft. At the time of his death he gifted his Mark 4 aeroplane
to Alex Armstrong with the proviso that if it was sold, the sale
price should go to the Dunedin Hospice.
His wishes were carried out. Bob Gibson of Dunedin
acquired it from Alex and set about refurbishing it with the
intention of registering it. Bob says he didn’t have to do much
to bring the aircraft up to official airworthiness standard — he
stripped the airframe and re-covered it, overhauled the engine
and replaced the 4130 steel struts and undercarriage tubing
because of their unknown history, and he also lengthened
the aileron horns for better control authority.
Bob registered the Williams Mk 4 ZK-JPA on 25 February
2003 and flew it successfully for around 65hr before selling
it to Mike Nicolson of Lumsden on 11 May 2004. Mike has
flown it for around 100hr and says its total flying time is
Spring 2014 SPORT FLYING
Gary and Jane Ewing with their children and Williams Mk 4 at Five Forks
on 31 March 1991.
Mike Nicolson
Having been brought up to proper airworthiness standard by Bob Gibson,
Mk 4 continues to be active in the hands of Mike Nicolson of Lumsden.
about 400hr, which makes it a pretty successful homebuilt
microlight.
When Geoff Williams died, his life-long passion for aircraft
died with him. I cannot ask him why he built his aircraft and
flew all of them unregistered, but his family has said that he
was not a stickler for rules or authority, and also possibly
that money was an issue.
One Dunedin custombuilder recalls advising Geoff to
use better materials, and not just plywood from old tea
chests, so his aeroplanes might be worth something when
they were completed.
Several pilots flew one or more of his four aeroplanes and
most of the flying was done in isolated areas of the Otago
Peninsula and Central Otago. He also had a protective group
of farmers and flyers around him who looked after him. I
believe that he never had a face-to-face meeting with the
civil aviation authorities, although at one stage they were
actively looking for him, which resulted in his stopping flying
his second aircraft.
By the time of his Mk 4, microlights had come upon the
scene and the CAA had a more relaxed attitude towards this
type of aircraft. There had never been a suggestion that he had
done anything foolish around the public or any built-up area.
Geoff must have had an excellent aeronautical mind
because he designed all his aeroplanes himself, including the
propellers, then built them and flew them, initially with very
little flying experience, all the while self-taught and working
pretty much by himself.
In later years he did have connections with the Otago
Aero Club, and his aeronautical adventures were known
around Taieri. No matter what, Geoff Williams was the central
figure in a colourful and interesting part of the New Zealand
homebuilt scene.
Williams Mk 5 had progressed to the stage of a working quarter-scale
model, 68cm long and 40cm wingspan. Geoff was trying to work out how
small he could make a working aeroplane. His head would have been
well above the top wing.
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SPORT FLYING Spring 2014
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