AirSport_Jan15

NEWSFLIGHT OF THE KIWI– Vale Graham HewittAlthough he has lived in Western Australia for half a century, GrahamHewitt was proudly a New Zealander who had been flying for nofewer than 64 years. During this time, he amassed an impressivelogbook tally of over 23,000 flying hours on more than a hundreddifferent types, from tiny single-seaters to jet airliners.As we can tell from his Air Camper cockpit’s configuration, Grahamlearned to fly on Tiger. His first real flight was aged ten, as passengerin a Waco biplane with the local instructor who then went off to war,flying Kittyhawk fighters. On his return in 1947 he taught Graham, whosoloed his Tiger Moth in just five hours!Graham’s commercial career started with Ansett Airways on DC-3sin Melbourne. After Ansett, Graham went to Europe to fly Swissair’sDC-3s, Convair 440 Metropolitans and DC-6s. The Swiss nationalcharacter did not accord well with Graham’s fierce Kiwi individualism,so he left to fly four-engined de Havilland Herons for Ferranti until heheard from a West Australian friend that MacRobertson Miller Airlineswas hiring direct-entry captains on their Dakotas. Graham appliedand got the job, staying though MMA’s absorption into Ansett untilretirement, later flying their Fokker F.27 Friendships (‘two great enginesspoiled by a poor airframe’) and F.28 Fellowships.Having long been an enthusiastic GA pilot, and particularly keenon aerobatics, Graham inverted everything he can get his hands on.Prior to his Pietenpol, Graham built a Van’s RV-6, in which he fulfilleda long-held ambition of flying back from his Perth home, all acrossAustralia and the Tasman to his origins in New Zealand – a mammothundertaking of 25 flying hours and 3,500 miles over three days.Graham conducted the maiden test flight of many a homebuilt, andthis dedicated octogenarian flew his regular ten-minute session oflow-level aerobatics every Sunday lunchtime.Aged 77 when he started his Pietenpol project, he took six years tocomplete it – a feat he cheerfully acknowledged would have beenimpossible without the help of his many homebuilding and aeromodellingfriends, of whom he said, ‘They got me out of my shed andinto the air’. He first flew it just before his 84th birthday. We have losta staunch member and good friend.Graham’s SAAA membership number is 00048. We have lost a staunchmember and good friend. Bob Grimstead?For whencircumstances prevent a safeconventional landingSales Service & Supportcontact BRSAustralia.cominfo@BRSAustralia.com (02) 8355 700910 AIRSPORT SAAA – THE HOME OF AUSTRALIAN EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT AIRSPORT 11