It’s the mystery that has confused aviation experts for more than 60 years: What happened to New Zealand’s infamous Dragonfly plane?
The plane disappeared in 1962 above an area of rough terrain where five other aircraft have since gone missing.
Only one of those planes has ever been found – which has led many to question if the country has its own Bermuda Triangle.
“I warn people who start reading about the disappearance that they risk getting Dragonfly fever,” local author Richard Waugh tells New Idea.
“People like a mystery. It’s one that’s been part of my life since I was a boy.”
Richard was five when the disaster happened. His father, Captain Brian Waugh, was close friends with the Dragonfly’s pilot, Brian Chadwick.
“They served in the Royal Air Force in World War II and then flew together as charter pilots in the north of England after the war,” Richard says.
“They both moved their families to New Zealand in the 1950s and Chadwick started his own charter business taking tourists down to Milford Sound.”
He was the first operator in what is now a massive business. But the story did not end happily.
On February 12, 1962, Chadwick took four passengers on the plane – Australians Louis Rowan, 25, Darrell Shiels, 33, Elwyn Saville, 20, and Elwyn’s New Zealand-born wife, Valerie, 22.
The weather on the coast was good. Despite it being wet over the ranges, Chadwick was a skilled pilot. Richard suspects deteriorating weather and engine trouble caused the disaster.
“It hit Dad hard,” Richard recalls.
For years, people would come to their house with maps and sit around the table pouring over them with his father.
“Every day for the next five years he’d fly the routes [Chadwick used], searching for him,” Richard adds.
No trace of the doomed flight was ever discovered. Richard explains the terrain was against them, as well as not knowing for sure which way Chadwick had flown.
“It’s tiger country, very rugged and mountainous, so it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Richard says.
“You have to have a theory [of where he flew] but even then, it could be 20 square miles of very rugged terrain you’d need to search.”
Though this mammoth effort hasn’t put people off, with some groups trekking out to the Southern Alps in search of rubble.
Richard says he also receives “emails every month” from people who share different theories.
His book, Lost Without Trace: Brian Chadwick & the Missing Dragonfly, examines the case in detail.
In 2023, 110 people attended an event dedicated to the 60-year anniversary of the lost Dragonfly.
The search for the other four planes that went down undetected – and the demand for answers – also continues.
“Quite a lot of initiative has been taken to find these planes too, but again you’re dealing with this tiger country,” Richard says.
“It could be technology that finds them now. There has been experimentation with radar devices that can detect metal even through the canopy of trees.”
A total of 23 lives were lost. Their families remain desperate for some closure.
“My dad said, back in 1962, that if the Dragonfly went down in rugged terrain it might never be found,” Richard continues. “Still to this day, he’s right.”
