Tasman Empire Airways Limited

'New Zealand's International Airline'

Yarns

Under Attack!

During the year to March 3l, 1942, TEAL undertook several special charter and reconnaissance flights to New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Hawaii to assist the war effort. During one of these missions, Short S.30 Empire Class Flying Boat Awarua was in flight somewhere north west of the Tokelau Islands. Although clearly identified as a civilian aircraft, a gung-ho United States fighter plane operating form a US aircraft carrier attacked the lumbering flying boat.

Fortunately for all on board the aim of the fighter plane pilot was just as bad as a spaghetti western cowboy of the time. Captain Jack Burgess of the Awarua said that only one bullet hole was found in the wing but the potential loss would have been a disaster for our tiny, two plane airline.

Close Call

In 1951, a Tasman Empire Airways Ltd Solent flying boat was taking off from Rose Bay in Sydney Harbour at night, in the direction of the Wintergarden Theatre.

Just as the aircraft lifted off the water, one engine failed. The captain climbed the aircraft sharply to avoid an imminent collision with the theatre, and made a quick turn left, just clearing the hills. He then straightened up for a downwind landing on the flare path. During the turn, a second engine failed and a third engine failed on touchdown. The fourth engine provided sufficient power to allow the aircraft to approach and secure to the mooring buoy.

When the engineer climbed out through the astrodome onto the wing, he found the wing covered with foam.

An official investigation found that detergent had been used to top up all engine oil tanks, and a 44 gallon drum containing detergent had been labelled as aircraft oil!

Stranded In Paradise

There was one infamous flight in 1955 when the plane was coming back from Tahiti bound for Auckland with an almost full passenger load. The atmosphere on board was tinged with excitement. The passengers, including glamorous French film star Martine Carol, had heard that the next stop, Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, had one of the most dazzling lagoons in the South Pacific.

As the Flying Boat landed on the lagoon sending foaming shafts in its wake, the passengers marvelled at the vivid turquoise of the water, the soft cream coral sand and the necklace of small islands where swishing palm trees were the only sign of life. The tropical air felt like silk. The two-hour stopover to swim in the lagoon while the aircraft refuelled rushed by too quickly.

After everyone was back on board, one of the Flying Boat engines failed on take-off. Passengers, luggage, blankets, food and drink were offloaded on the uninhabited island Akaiami and the Flying Boat took off on three engines to Tahiti to get the faulty engine repaired.

"That was the last we saw of the Flying Boat for eight days," recalls Dennis Marshall the young Flying Boat cabin steward.

"There was pigskin luggage stacked on the sand and passengers asking me to take them to the hotels. But this was 1955. There were no hotels in Aitutaki." He and the two hostesses got the passengers and luggage on to the rusty but trusty fuel barge for the 9km chug across the lagoon. In airforce sheds which had been built beside a crushed coral runway for the American Forces during World War II, they set up house, helped by showers, an old jeep, an Aitutakian who sent Morse-coded messages to Tahiti and liquor from the registered agent's locker when the Flying Boat's supply ran out.

The islanders topped up the Flying Boat's dwindling food supplies with an abundance of fresh fish, meat and fruit and vegetables while Marshall handed out IOUs. Ninety fish were caught on a single day and the tourists became fascinated with the skilled Aitutaki fishermen who speared fish from the reef as the waves crashed over. During a walk up Mt Pirake for views of the encircling lagoon, Marshall saw local children dancing. They were practising for the impending visit of the governor-general and agreed to entertain the Flying Boat passengers. The community-spirited islanders built a platform, bedecked the tourists with fragrant frangipani and bright hibiscus and enthralled them with the rhythm and vitality of their dance and drums.

The tourists felt their initial irritation wafting away with the balmy breeze. Memories of silver service meals cooked aboard the Flying Boat evaporated. Lovely young island women swayed past and Marshall worked harder to remain in command. When the Flying Boat returned several days later no one wanted to leave. Eyewitnesses to their departure say a marlin danced in the wake of the flying boat as it took off from the lagoon. It must have been a marvellous parting salute.

For years after the stranded passengers wrote to Marshall about how Aitutaki had turned out to be a dream holiday.

Lockheed Electra L-188 crash

On March 27 1965, Teal's Lockheed Electra L-188 ZK-TEC Akaroa, crashed during a training flight at Whenuapai. The airline had done the following manoeuvre many times before: the Electra flying at precisely 140kts, could be flown over the runway threshold, then throttled back to idle, it would drop almost vertically, and then land on the runway. As this would never be done on a passenger flight; the reason for the procedure remains a mystery.

Onboard were a captain, a check captain, a flight engineer, a navigator, and the airline's industrial personnel officer, and emergency procedures officer standing behind them. As Akaroa's speed dropped below 140 knots, the aeroplane landed very heavily, collapsing the undercarriage; and Akaroa shed wings, engines, tailplane, and tail as she skidded off the runway and across the grass towards the control tower. Somehow, the two standing officers stayed standing, the fire extinguishers were turned on, and everyone was evacuated out the cockpit windows, with one man burning his hand on the escape rope. TEAL salvaged what they could from the wreck, and the remains were quickly pushed into a gully behind the NAC hangars before the public saw it. The crash took place in the early hours of the morning. This training procedure was quickly deleted from TEAL's manuals. TEAL purchased a replacement Electra from Qantas after it changed its name to Air New Zealand the following March.

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