Flying legend’s trip remembered
It’s been 15 years since retired Mackenzie farmer Brian Beattie hosted legendary pilot Chuck Yeager on his high country station.
Beattie, 85, owned the 13,779-hectare Dry Creek Station at the headwaters of the Orari River, when Yeagar turned up for a hunting trip in 2005.
Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, died aged 97 on December 7, and his death has brought back memories for Beattie who remembers Yeager as being a ‘‘fit chap’’.
‘‘I liked him,’’ Beattie said. ‘‘We were talking on the same wavelength. I knew what he was about, and he knew what I was about.’’
Yeager began building his legend in World War II when he downed five German planes in one day. He sealed his place in history in 1947 when, at the age of 24, he became the first person to fly at supersonic speed.
Born in the United States, Yeager was also an avid hunter and Beattie’s sprawling Mackenzie station had built an international reputation among hunters with a variety of game including deer, tahr and chamois when Yeager turned up.
He was looking for tahr and shot a number during his visit.
Beattie remembers entertaining the pilot and his entourage with drinks and jokes.
‘‘I met him on the station and entertained the group in the evening, he was with several guides.
Beattie said they had drinks, relaxed and managed to unwind. ‘‘I had a conversation with them, had a few jokes with them, they loved it.’’
Beattie said he was saddened to read Yeager had died.
A signed picture of the pilot was sent to Beattie not long after the two met, which he still treasures.
Beattie said it was in the 1980s when he diversified from sheep to deer and beef, while offering safari hunting experiences at the station. ‘‘We were making more income out of hunting than we were out of sheep at the height of it. We had a lot of important people coming to hunt.’’
Beattie’s daughter, Rachel Beattie, said she recalled a number of high profile clients hunting at the station.
’’When Dad had clients it was all hush, hush,’’ she said. ‘‘He had a lot of important people come to the station over the years. He was amazing really because he was always about having a good laugh. He tells a good yarn.’’
Beattie began farming the station in 1950 when his father’s station, Lochaber, was broken into three separate properties. He sold the station to Waimate businessman Gary Rooney in 2010.