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Well known Taranaki farmer and identity Harold Newton had an amazing flying career. Decorated as a night fighter pilot, where he shot down two German Dornier 217 aircraft and damaged a third flying a twin-engine Beaufighter, Harold was awarded one of flying’s highest awards, the Distinguished Flying Cross, presented to him by King George VI.
Harold had joined the RNZAF at the outbreak of War, flying Wellington Bombers, Mosquito fighter bombers, and the Beaufighter.
After the war he continued to fly for the RAF’s Berlin Air Command, flying food and supplies to starving Germans in Russian-held Berlin.
In 1947 Harold bought a small American Ercoupe monoplane and flew it from Belgium all the way home to Bell Block Aerodrome, a feat celebrated in the press and radio all over the country. The 19,000 kilometre journey took 3 weeks.
He returned to the family farm at Kaipikari near Urenui, to continue developing and breaking-in the hill country property.
Well into his eighties Harold was still operating large bulldozers and tractors, a passion that sadly cost the 86 year old his life in a tractor accident on the farm in 2003.
Today Harold’s son Matt owns and operates Precision Helicopters Ltd out of this very airport, maintaining the strong aviation lineage in the Newton family, and daughter Lily now also flies helicopters.
The Newton family still owns and operates the Kaipikari farm, just a few kilometers from here.
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