Introducing the New Zealand Aviation Press partnership:

   Janic Geelen

Janic Geelen has been an aircraft enthusiast and historian from high school days. Saturday afternoons were spent biking out to Rukuhia aerodrome from the city of Hamilton, NZ, to see aircraft. Later he photographed each new aircraft including the topdressing planes belonging to Robertson Air Services and James Aviation. He got to know the engineers and recorded each new Flectcher built by Pacific Aerospace. There he met Norman Eastaff who helped him record the activities. Janic wrote a series of articles on the history of agricultural aviation for the New Zealand Aviation Historical Society and later New Zealand Wings. This began a long association with New Zealand Wings and its editorial board of the late Ross Macpherson and Ross Ewing.

The culmination of Janic’s research of the aerial agriculture industry in New Zealand appeared in 1982 when NZ Aviation Press was set up to publish The Topdressers (appeared in 1983). Following the upheaval of the industry an addendum was published titled The Topdressers 1990. Then followed Rotary Wings written in collaboration with Ross MacPherson. Janic has always been interested in civil aircraft built prior to 1960 and he and Norman Eastaff spend many hours checking the de Havilland archives that Norman intended to publish as Magnificent Enterprise.

   Kath Geelen

Kath has an enthusiasm for reading, writing and the English language. Her first involvement with an Aviation Press project was in 1980-83, when she edited and proof-read the first Topdressers with Janic. Her editorial input into this volume led to its becoming a classic aviation book of the period. Since then she has collaborated in the other NZ Aviation Press projects, of which The Magnificent Enterprises is the most recent.

Janic and Kath manage NZ Aviation Press for the purpose of collecting and publishing aviation history. The couple are both secondary school teachers, have four adult daughters, and are soon to become grandparents.

   Norman Eastaff

Norman Eastaff (1928-2002) was born and brought up in Watford, UK. He joined de Havilland’s at Leavesden as a 16 year old cadet in 1944. After his National Service and a period on the Berlin Airlift, he rejoined de Havilland’s as a ground engineer with the service department in 1953. He was stationed in Africa and Uruguay and returned to Hatfield after the merger with Hawker-Siddeley. He was appointed to oversee the D.H. 125 delivery programme in the USA in 1965 and continued to be involved with the 125 until he left the company in 1973. Norman emigrated to New Zealand and worked for New Zealand Aerospace Industries in Hamilton, New Zealand, where he met Janic Geelen in 1977. After he retired in Hamilton in 1993, they worked together on the de Havilland project until Norman’s death, after which the archives and book project were bequeathed to NZ Aviation Press.

Norman Eastaff utilised his broad knowledge and wealth of experience to check every aspect of his research. His attention to detail was extraordinary, and he met most of the senior de Havilland management team in the course of his working life with the company. He is especially remembered for his wry sense of humour and many anecdotes of de Havilland corporate life.

Norman Eastaff collected a vast body of information for this project and he was not satisfied until he had checked his data against original company publications as well as what other authors had written.