centerNEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG

Bert's Biplane

Kevin Ikin    2020
                            


Bert Mercer first landed his Fox Moth on the beaches and farm paddocks of South Westland in 1934 to connect the people there with the rest of New Zealand.

 
INTRO:  Am (riff)
Clear the stock from the landing strip,
 F               G           Am -G     -Am
If you look hard you can see the blip
        C            G     Em-D - Em
Of a biplane circling in the gloom,
F                   G       Am -G  -Am
Searching for some landing room.


 2. Clear the seaweed from the sand
     It’s the only place where Bert can land,
     To bring us mail and medicine
     He risks his life to fly it in.

CH:  Bb
        If you ask what hope sounds like
             Am
        A  Fox Moth aircraft circling near
        C
         If you ask what luck looks like
                 Em
         The glint of a wing in the swirling air
          Bb
          And if you ask what faith feels like
                 Am
          The force of the downdraft in your hair
                        C
          And the handshake of the man
                    Em               Am (riff)
         Who’s landed, he’s here!

3. We had no highway down the Haast,
    Just a muddy track that was crumbling fast.
    Or a rickety boat at the river mouth,
    There’s bugger-all berthing, this far south.

4. But then a saviour from the sky,
    Bert and his Fox Moth land nearby.
    Through wind and rain and misty squall,
    We weren’t forgotten after all.
                                  Chorus

5.  A road to the Haast is still years ahead,
     But we have Bert and his Moth instead.
     That plucky little plane that battles through,
     With the doctor, the mail, and newspapers too.

  6. If you listen closely you can hear
     The sound of an aircraft somewhere near.
     It’s Bert Mercer and his flying machine,
     Just a single engine but she’s running clean.

                                 Chorus (Repeat)

OUTRO:           Bbmaj7             Am7
                  He’s here  ...   he’s here ...     (Repeat x2,  end with Am riff). 

Bert Mercer

James Cuthbert Mercer (b.1886, d. 1944) was a pioneer New Zealand aviator.

After he left school in 1900, he worked as a bicycle and car mechanic. After the Canterbury (NZ) Aviation Company was formed in 1916 to train pilots for the war in Europe, he moved his family to Sockburn, on the outskirts of Christchurch, and joined as a mechanic. He learned to fly while working there (1920 photo) and became the Canterbury Aero Club's first instructor when it formed in 1928.

He established the country's first commercial airline, Air Travel (NZ) Ltd, in December 1934, operating a Fox Moth between Hokitika and settlements in South Westland. 10 other pilots also flew for Air travel between 1934 and 1947. Here is Bert with a load of mail.

Due to the success of the South Westland service, a second Fox Moth was bought in 1935, a twin engine DH.90 Dragon Rapide in 1937, and another Rapide in 1938.

The Fox Moth

The DH.83 Fox Moth was a successful small biplane passenger aircraft from the 1930s powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Major I inline inverted engine, manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. The aircraft was designed late in 1931 as a low cost and economical light passenger aircraft. Many components including the engine, tailplane, fin, rudder and wings were identical to those being used for the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth then being built in large quantities as a military trainer. These were fitted to the purpose-built wooden, plywood-covered fuselage. The pilot sat in a raised cockpit behind the small enclosed passenger cabin, which was usually fitted with three seats. Here is Bert with his Fox Moth at Franz Josef Glacier.

Kevin Ikin

Kevin was a news journalist for 40 years, and rural Radio NZ journalist for the last 30 of these years, between 1985 and 2015. His quiet manner often disguised his ability to ask probing and hard questions. He was firm and unyielding in seeking answers, but never aggressive or abusive, and he valued facts and truth.

He is also a talented musician with a passion for folk, especially Celtic music.

  Home

Published on the NZFolksong website Dec 2021