World War II bomber pilot Buzz Spilman transitioned to topdresser in Whanganui

Buzz Spilman had a long career in aviation, including being a World War II bomber pilot. Photo / Supplied

A former World War II bomber pilot who was among the early aerial topdressing pilots in the central North Island has died in Nelson at the age of 98.

Sidney Lewis Spilman (July 11, 1922–September 18, 2020), known as Buzz, started out aerial topdressing in Whanganui more than 65 years ago in a Tiger Moth biplane.

He logged more than 10,000 hours aerial topdressing over almost two decades, a period rife with fatalities and serious "prangs" but he came through without any accidents.

In his first year of topdressing in 1954 he had to swing on the Tiger Moth's wooden propeller to start the engine before scrambling to move the wooden chocks away from the aircraft's wheels, then climbed into the open cockpit.

He had had two years using Tiger Moths as a flight instructor in England during the war before flying Lancaster bombers on a tour of 30 operations over Germany.

In Whanganui, unlike England, he wasn't getting chilblains on his face from exposure to the weather in a Tiger Moth cockpit and a year into the job with Aerial Farming of NZ he became the first commercial pilot in New Zealand to use the Piper Super Cub.

He now had an enclosed cockpit but otherwise operations remained rudimentary. His base at the airport was a creosoted shed about 2m x 2m; the branch office was a desk with a telephone in the dining area of the family home.

Buzz worked long days, often heading out to the airport before dawn, and in summer was lucky to get home before dark. For the family, the drone of approaching aircraft signalled the end of a day's work.

Buzz would circuit the house until someone rushed out to the back lawn and waved furiously. He would then waggle the plane's wings and disappear in the direction of the airport.

The phone would ring throughout the day and Buzz was lucky to have an evening meal uninterrupted by farmers on the "blower" putting their orders in late into the night.

Fertiliser had to be ordered, fuel arranged, farmers canvassed, airstrips sited, loader drivers organised, multiple jobs within an area co-ordinated, sometimes one farmer allowing neighbours use of an airstrip.

Any paddock long enough and accessible for a loader to cart in fertiliser could constitute an airstrip. Often they were plateau airstrips but others were short with steep drop-offs and there was little or no margin for error.

The attrition rate in the industry was high. Pilots who had survived fighter attacks and anti-aircraft guns in World War II fell victim to the hazards of the job back on their home turf.

Many died. Many quit. Many had to quit after being seriously injured. Buzz's approach was methodical, precise, and consistent.

His precautions inevitably attracted a bit of ribbing from time to time. He would just give a wry smile and quote the saying: "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old, bold pilots."

Buzz continued flying out of Whanganui until early in 1968, having moved on to Piper Pawnees, with Fletcher and Cessna aircraft also in the mix. By then he had also trained 16 pilots.

Then 45 years old, he switched to flying sprayers in the wide-open spaces of the Darling Downs in Queensland, about 200km inland from Brisbane.

However, an approach from Wanganui Aero Works within the year brought him back to Whanganui. He finally retired from flying in 1975. Buzz spent time in Horowhenua and Manawatū before retiring to Nelson in the early-1980s.

At 90 he flew to England with the NZ contingent to attend the unveiling of the Bomber Command memorial in Green Park, London.

He died at The Wood Retirement Village in Nelson on September 18.