Veteran pilot Derek Williams retires after decades of Anzac Day flyovers

Derek Williams, a distinguished top-dressing pilot who flew over the Mount Maunganui Dawn Service, has retired.

• Derek Williams, 87, is retiring after a 53-year career as a top-dressing pilot.
• Williams flew over the Dawn Service during Anzac Day for 40 years and was Mount RSA president.
• He amassed more than 592,000 take-offs and landings, spraying 363,448 tonnes of fertiliser across 57,000ha.

Former RSA Mount president and veteran pilot Derek Williams recalls when he first fell in love with flying.

“It was all about the feel,” the 87-year-old said.

It was that love that started his flying career, leading him to fly over the Mount Maunganui Dawn Service on Anzac Day for 40 years.

Now he is retiring.

Williams first qualified for his private pilot licence in 1955.

Where it all started

At the end of World War II, Williams saw the Americans build the Waharoa aerodrome close to his hometown of Matamata and a passion for flying was born.

An 18-year-old Williams obtained his private licence in 1955, eventually acquiring enough hours in the cockpit to qualify for a commercial licence in 1960.

He gained his licence in the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth, he said.

Williams obtained his commercial pilot licence in November 1960.

Despite having qualifications as a commercial pilot, he never entered the Royal New Zealand Air Force; instead, he enrolled in the New Zealand Army during the 20th Compulsory Military Training.

“It bugged me, I had my commercial licence and they did not even look at me.”

Despite that, Williams said he enjoyed his time in the army as a radio operator and gunner in Valentine tanks.

“It taught you discipline, you learnt to behave yourself.”

The New Zealand Government discontinued the programme in 1972.

Williams served three months in the army before finding work as a top-dressing pilot in 1961.

He amassed more than 592,000 take-offs and landings and sprayed 363,448 tonnes of fertiliser across 57,000ha.

A top-dressing pilot is a specialised agricultural pilot who flies aircraft (usually small fixed-wing planes) to spread fertilisers, lime or sometimes seeds over farmland.

He retired from top-dressing in 2014, after 53 years on the job.

“I was 77 when I retired, now at 87, I am an old b***tard.”

During his career, Williams top-dressed in Malaysia and delivered and flew planes to Norfolk Island and the Solomon Islands.

All the while escaping the odd crash, he said.

In 2000, he wrote off a Fletcher plane in Cambridge.

“The engine seemed to lose power, and I left the strip. I hit something, and it went all dark. When I stopped, I thought I must be dead.

“But I opened the canopy, the engine was ripped out, and I had gone through a trough, and the muck on the bottom had covered the aeroplane.”

A second crash in 2001 in Northern Borneo resulted in his plane bursting into flames.

“It was on fire within about 20 minutes and was a heap of ashes.”

The early years of top-dressing were a dangerous time; 100 pilots died during 1949-1980, he said.

Anzac Day flyovers

Williams flew over the Mount Maunganui Dawn Service for 35 years before becoming president of the Mount RSA in 2016.

His first Anzac Day fly-by was in 1980.

He did a handful more following his stint as Mount RSA president, but could not get behind the controls as his medical clearance was revoked this year.

“I had to get a mate to fly the aeroplane.”

Williams wants to get his medical clearance back but is unsure how that conversation with the doctor will go.

“The doctor said to me. How many pilots at 87 are still flying?” Williams said.

“How the hell would I know?”