Tokirima History
Top Dressing - The "manure" planes
Started circa 1950
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Tokirima History Top Dressing - The "manure" planes Started circa 1950
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Top Dressing - the application of fertiliser from planes - started in the Tokirima area about 1950. These photo's, taken by Mr Jack Corbet, show a Tiger Moth at Hope Gower's airstrip. It was converted to hold approx 332 lbs of Super phosphate in the front seat. The hopper to the left was filled up and the plane pushed back to fill it up.
Under full load it could just take off but would have broken the undercarriage if it landed. Therefore they had a special 'dump' lever in case of emergency.
Modern planes can carry 2 tonnes of fert.
They use GPS to ensure accurate runs and refill their tanks in less than two minutes using specially designed loaders.
They are also highly manoeuvrable to work over the hills and valleys of King country. These pictures show Paul Fenton from the Top Dressing Co-op in action over Tokirima. Photos by Roger Moore - 2002 |
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