"Pilots were flying by the seat of their pants and many lost their lives in those early years," he recalled.
In 1954 Mr Aitken set up his business, Farmers Aviation Ltd, with financial assistance from four Taranaki farmers. He described it as a tightly regulated, competitive environment.
He started with one Tiger Moth and built up to a fleet of small aircraft and had several clients.
During the years his training methods for the nine new young pilots who worked for him meant none lost their life.
Mr Aitken's book takes you through his many run-ins with authorities as well as documented official reports of his eight aeroplane crashes.
The most dramatic was in 1967 near Waitara when he and his Piper aircraft struck massive power lines strung across a wide gully.
"Amazing escape from plane crash" was the headline in the newspapers. Split seconds after Mr Aitken escaped from the smashed cockpit the whole aircraft was engulfed in flame and was a charred twisted skeleton in minutes.
But in the 1980s a bigger fire signalled the beginning of the end for his business.
His large hangar near Hawera caught ablaze destroying five aircraft.
An insurance pay-out bought a new aeroplane that Mr Aitken operated for two more years before hanging up on his top-dressing business.
He writes that his career highlight was undoubtedly his stunt flying at airshows throughout New Zealand.
This is the memoir of a man detailing an invaluable record of his extraordinary career in an early days of New Zealand agricultural aviation history.
- The book is available for $40 by contacting Mr Aitken at 52 Ngamotu Road, Taupo, phone (07) 378-5871, or email aitkenwin@xtra.co.nz.