The picturesque yet isolated East Coast of the North Island was a pioneering area of New Zealand aviation. Gisborne based East Coast Airways was the first New Zealand airline to be licensed and the first to operate twin engined aircraft, de Havilland Dragons, from early 1935. This book tells the adventures of the aviation pioneers - joyriding off beaches, hand-swung propellers, forced landings and a converted tramcar for a passenger terminal. Ilustrated by many rare photographs, this story describes how aviation made, and still makes, a significant social and economic impact on provincial New Zealand.

Published 1997.