A Pilot’s story, from Flying Boats to Jets

A mate has documented, in blog form, his Fathers flying career which spanned Sunderland/PBY Catalina flying boats to DC8 jets (including survey flights for the Coral Route). The blog has many diary extracts and photos from a time when aviation in NZ & the Pacific evolved from an adventure to a business.

His historical record as written by one of his sons



Cliff Le Couteur was my father. My name is William Le Couteur and I have decided to write what I know of his life mainly to provide a record for interested parties

With this story goes many black and white photos, which I hope to post on this blog, or on the online photo storage Flickr. The above photo is one I found in his collection and I believe it would be the Catalina used on the Pacific Island Survey he went on in 1951…