
Specialists in research and writing about early New Zealand airlines.
Who are we?
| RICHARD WAUGH is an historian and voluntary organiser of aviation events. His late father, Brian Waugh, was a prominent pilot for several of the pioneering small airlines of New Zealand in the post-war years. Richard was born in Christchurch during the days of Trans Island Airways, grew up in Hokitika through the era of West Coast Airways (and flew on the airline's last flight), and lived in Queenstown during Tourist Air Travel's operations. PETER LAYNE has covered aviation news for many years and
has been a member of the Aviation Historical Society of New Zealand
since 1970. He has a family background in aviation and while growing
up during the late 1950s and 1960s, enthusiastically observed the aviation
scene in Auckland and met many of those involved. His father, Brian
Layne, has an aviation career extending back to 1935 with the Waikato
branch of the Auckland Aero Club at Te Rapa. Following wartime service
he joined National Airways in 1947, and fulfilled various roles until
retiring in 1978, when the airline merged with Air New Zealand. GRAEME MCCONNELL is a longtime Nelson resident and keen
aviation history enthusiast with a particular interest in Nelson aviation
history, his father having learnt to fly at the old Stoke Airfield in
1937. He has been a member of the Aviation Historical Society of New
Zealand for 40 years and in 1995 co-authored Strait Across - The Pioneering
Story of Cook Strait Aviation. He has also written many articles on
aviation topics, been involved with most of the aviation history books
from the Waugh stable, and in 2000 was the co-editor of Arthur Bradshaw's
memoirs, Flying by Bradshaw. BRUCE GAVIN has had amujer rusa contacto telefonico lifetime interest in the aviation
scene in New Zealand since first seeing, as a small boy, a yellow Tiger
Moth flying from a completely bare Matamata Aerodrome in the late 1940s.
Trained as a school teacher at Ardmore Teachers Training College in
the late 1950s, he served in various roles from Probationary Assistant
to Principal; living and working at schools in the Waikato (around Matamata),
the Bay of Plenty, Golden Bay and Feilding for over 40 years. |
![]() Aviation historians from left; Graeme McConnell (seating), Richard Waugh, Peter Layne (seating) and Bruce Gavin, by former Trans Island Airways' Lockheed 10 Electra ZK-BUT at Auckland's Museum of Transport & Technology, 2002. (Deborah Powick) |