NZ Gliding Pioneer Arthur Hardinge
Obituary from Bruce Stephenson
(A Vintage Kiwi Member, and a Kiwi, living in the UK)
Ask any young person today to what makes a pioneer? Most will probably blankly stare back at you, searching desperately to try and provide an answer. Today, the word pioneer is almost too hard to quantify, the boundaries of which seem to evaporate into the realms of greater expectations, technology itself having rendered most feats in the past as mere events that have long since been eclipsed by technology itself. But back in the late 1940’s it was very much a different affair, indeed some frontiers remained untouched by the hands of the modern world. Technology was at a great cross roads, as the turmoil of a world conflict had both taken its toll on humanity, but in the same context, we reaped it’s the benefits of its new technological marvels. It was against this backdrop that the gliding community struggled to pick up where it had left off, for it was here, during this time, that Arthur Hardinge was to take his place in our colourful history.
Arthur Hardinge was born in Bendigo on the 19th April 1919, son of an English immigrant, and learnt to fly gliders at the age of 18 in 1937 at Mount Fraser.
Shortly after World War Two, Arthur decided to build his own glider utilising his experience gained during the war when he worked in the Aircraft Industry and set about building his own high performance glider. After seeing that the Meise drawings were commercially available through the English firm, Chilton’s of Hungerford, he set about procuring a set at the not so insubstantial sum of £15.14.5d, which included postage and bankers fees. This represented a considerable sum back then, so imagine Arthur’s dismay when he found that much of the wing and fuselage profiles needed careful re-plotting and redrawing to ensure the correct profiles!
The birth of Arthur’s little Meise was carried out in what can only be described as the most cramped of conditions, in a lean-to at his mother’s suburban Melbourne home, and was so restrictive that Arthur had even dug a hole in the floor to accommodate the fin when the fuselage was inverted! The main workshop itself was only a mere 8 foot wide, but with a 2 ft work bench fitted down one side, this only left some 6 ft workshop space, about 2 feet wider than a modern glider trailer!
Arthur was to gain a building partner along the way, Ken Davies, who was responsible for making much of the steel fittings and tail-feathers, however as the project reached into the final stages, it took its toll on both Arthur and Ken, and sadly through Kens young son sadly contracting leukaemia, (who later died) and the projects demanding pressures, the partnership was not to last the full course.
Having run into a dispute with his club the Gliding Club of Victoria, in which Arthur was later to surmise as partly due to their envy at his much higher performance glider, Arthur had heard about a new group of gliding enthusiasts that had sprung up under the typically quaint name of the day, “The Private Owners Victorian Motor less Group” based at Berwick, and it was here that his Meise first took to the air on the 28th December 1949, 3 ½ years after the project had started.
It was shortly after its this first flight that Arthur’s Meise was to gain its unlikely new name that was to characterise what was to become one of the most famous of Australian gliders, when Gracie Roberts commented it on being a “Yellow Bitch of a thing”, which as Arthur recently recounted, “I immediately changed to something a little more amiable”, so came about the name thereafter, the “Yellow Witch”.
Not content just to sit on his laurels
and rec
over form a very
taxing period that demanded all of Arthur’s savings, not to mention his spare
time (he actually gave up work for the last
[B1]
year of construction to work on his Witch full time), after reading an article
of the low key activities and the almost total lack of modern gliders here in
New Zealand, Arthur was to undertake what has to be one of the most startling
private expeditions ever undertaken by an individual, and had his Witch shipped
to here on a sort of goodwill and barnstorming tour to promote the sport here.
At the time in New Zealand, gliding was almost non-existent, and was only
practiced by a few individuals with a few primaries, its most advanced glider
being a Slingsby Prefect. Arthur, felt this was a fantastic opportunity to
demonstrate, educate and encourage the New Zealand gliding community, and indeed
its public to the capabilities of a modern glider.
Today many would not consider this as very extraordinary, as it is not uncommon to have gliders shipped half way around the world by their owners for a few months at a time to take advantage of endless summers, and superior soaring conditions. But back in 1949, it was a very different story indeed, transport was expensive, wages relatively low, and there was simply just not the same financial opportunity for the ordinary man, a fact that we take for granted our infinitely more materialistic world today.
With construction of the Witch having virtually broken the bank, Arthur’s family came to the rescue, and they all contributed what funds they could which saw him departing Sydney docks on the 10th February 1949 with his cousin Kit Batten.
Having gambled all, Arthur was full of trepidation, as well as expectation after his encouraging correspondence from the New Zealand authorities, were to be dashed, and a long and drawn out battle in which would allow what the then short sighted and prejudiced government officials saw as a “backyard job” finally allow the Witch to be flown within New Zealand, and then only after a proviso had been given by the Australian CAA that in the event of an accident, then the Australian CAA was to take full responsibility!
So began the first Gliding barnstorming tour of New Zealand as Arthur solicited whatever means possible to move his Witch around. Most aero tows to move the Witch up and down the country to various venues were by pilots who had never even heard of, let alone seen aero towing, and each one ever the sceptic at first, was briefed very carefully by Arthur. Arthur was fortunate however, to be offered the services of the RNZAF on many occasions, and his Witch was transported in rather grand style in one the Air Forces DC3 transports!
The results of the tour were success itself, with many of Arthur’s aerobatic demonstrations fascinating all those watching the sight of a silent aircraft looping and rolling around the sky, his demonstrations left a memorable impression, and inspired many keen a New Zealand aviator to further exploit the advantages of this new type of aircraft to their skies.
At the end of the tour, Arthur was keen to remain in New Zealand to further exploit the full advantages of this fascinating and challenging gliding country, however the continued short-sighted policies practiced in the day by the government officials who controlled all aspects of aviation were to convince Arthur otherwise, and he returned to his homeland, his Witch finally arriving some months later, and as a final insult, required the rebuilding of the outer portions of the wings due to water damage after being left outside on the docks in Auckland due to Dockers strikes.
Arthur, mentally worn out and jaded by the whole affair of having put so much of himself into his Witch, felt it was time to move on in life, and just under 2 years after first flying the “Yellow Witch”, Arthur sold her to the Waikerie Gliding club, who were to operate her as a club glider until 1967 before being later sold on to her next owner, Keith Nolan, who was to cherish this splendid little glider for the next 37 years.
Arthur then turned his attentions to powered flying, and was later employed with the Commonwealth Aircraft Company as an aircraft inspector, and worked on many famous aircraft, such as the Mustang, Winjeel, Wirraway and F86 Sabre.
He later emigrated to Canada in the 1950’s where he took up a position with Avro Aircraft, working initially on the Arrow Jet project. After the decline of the aviation industry in Canada when it fell on hard times, Arthur left Avro’s and took up a position with the giant Phillips Company in quality control.
Arthur married and had three children, and remained in his adopted country of Canada for the rest of his life, however he continued to keep close tabs on his “Witch” all throughout his life, and was reunited with her again in 1985 after an absence of 35 years on one of Arthur’s many trips home to Australia when she was in the proud hands of Keith Nolan. One can only speculate as to how Arthur must have felt as he saw his creation again after the passing of so much time, the memories must have come flooding back. Clearly the Witch was many things to Arthur, not all of the journey now cast in history’s stone was without its personal price.
I didn’t have the privilege of knowing Arthur as a close friend. I only spoke to him once by telephone over one of the greatest oceans in the world from where I live in England (a feat when Arthur undertook his odyssey would have been met with incredulity), and corresponded with him by mail, but he did capture my imagination in his articulate manner and in his deeds of all those years ago. It was a great pleasure discovering this remarkable mans story in what was after all, just a short period of his life, and whilst history itself may not remember this remarkable mans determination as a particularly great feat, it is up to us to recognise the very real contributions that our winged comrades made to our sport, and in as much, Arthur stands head and shoulders above most. It is largely due to his credit that just a few years after his epic journey to New Zealand, gliding in this country was transformed, which ironically enjoyed a keen expansion that soon rivalled that of Arthur’s own country, and is today one of the top gliding nations of the world. May his beloved “Yellow Witch” which still dances upon God’s invisible hand, serve as a reminder of this quiet and gentle man whose spirit still soars with us all.
Arthur died peacefully at his home in Scarborough, Ontario on the March 14th aged 87.
