Born for adventure
Born in 1930, David grew up in Heretaunga and went to boarding school in Huntley. During WWII his father Samual headed the Emergency Precaution Scheme (EPS), the forerunner of Civil Defence.
Demonstrating an early aptitude for invention and improvisation, during his school years David rebuilt a 1914 Humber motorcycle he’d found in a shed. It wasn’t the most reliable motorcycle and by necessity he learned the crafty art of boogieing mechanical things.
Over the next few years he bought and sold a series of vehicles, a Model T car, a Vim truck, a 1928 JAP motorcycle and an Indian motorcycle. On the latter, he and friend Jakes White rode over the Haast Pass, believed to be the first vehicle crossing of that pass.
The Blackley family owned a farm at Wairoa and David decided on farming as a career. A year later, he did his Compulsory Military Training (CMT) with the Air Force. There he learned to fly Tiger Moths, going solo after only three hours of instruction.
But he had itchy feet and,
