Norm Davis at home in Waimate with faithful companion Maggie. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery
Norm Davis at home in Waimate with faithful companion Maggie. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery
Norm Davis' life sounds like something from a film script.
His career has ranged from attack pilot in the United States Navy and flying in the Cold War and Vietnam War to a much less adrenaline-filled lifestyle teaching, researching and farming in New Zealand.
Dr Davis (81), who lives on the outskirts of Waimate, outlined his 21-year stint in the US Navy at North Otago Federated Farmers' recent annual meeting.
Recounting his flying feats, including working on the famed USS Enterprise, he said: ''it may seem like I'm boasting about it, but I'm not''.
On graduating, and on his way to work as an aviation electronics technician, a lieutenant stepped on board the bus just before it pulled out and called out his name.
''When I got off the bus, he said 'you've got a week's latrine duty because you're going to Pensacola, Florida to be a naval aviation cadet','' he recalled.
Never in his wildest dreams did he think that would happen. But he entered the programme and received his Navy wings in 1956.
His naval career was action-packed and filled with adventure. His roles included flight instructor, Antarctic navigator and pilot, attack pilot flying Skyraiders, Skyhawks and Prowlers, flying in the Cold War and Vietnam, and commanding officer.
Dr David McKay (left), Red McDaniel and Norm Davis at the deactivation of USS Enterprise. Photo / Supplied
When he got his wings, it was suggested he become a flight instructor and that was what he did - getting 1000 hours of instructing in a year.
He then volunteered to go to Antarctica to fly DC3s as he knew he would get his choice of duty after that.
Most of the flying in Antarctica was in whiteout conditions, including take-off and landing, and they found new mountain ranges in the frozen continent while flying.
In 1957, Mr Davis was attending a wedding in Christchurch when he met his future wife Annette and ''fell head over heels in love with her''.
He followed the teenager to Southland, where her father farmed, and spent a week with her family, proposing at the end of it.
The couple were married in December 1958 and the newlyweds returned to the US.
In the 1960s during the Cold War, he flew Skyraiders in the Mediterranean.
The mission was to fly low level below the radar - about 60ft - just clearing trees, for about 11 hours, to the Russian border and then turn around and fly back to the ship.
Launching pre-dawn and landing after dark, it was ''absolutely amazing'' flying.
When the Vietnam War started to ''hot up'' and pilots were being lost at a fairly high rate, he volunteered to replace one of the lost pilots.
He ended up on the USS Enterprise as ordnance officer. USS Enterprise - nicknamed ''Big E'' - was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and, at 343m, the longest naval vessel ever built.
Dr Davis joined Enterprise on its first combat tour into Vietnam and it was a ''baptism of fire''.
Once, during his Antarctic duty and on a flight to New Zealand, the aircraft - with two new engines - lost an engine halfway between Hawaii and Kanton Island.
Equipment - including navigational radios - and clothing were jettisoned in a bid to stay in the air, along with dumping fuel.
As the tail went down at landing on Kanton Island, the second engine quit.
Books destined for wintering over at Antarctica had all been heaved out of the plane.
But one solitary survivor was found behind a seat, ominously called Don't Go Near The Water.
He spoke of landing on aircraft carriers; when heart monitoring was done on pilots on combat, it was found to be higher when landing, rather than in combat.
One night, Dr Davis had launched on a night bombing mission when he lost his radio and lights.
Not only that, but he could feel something was burning his leg.
The cockpit was filling with smoke and he thought he was going to have to eject.
He took his flashlight out and put it in his mouth so he could see the instruments.
He pulled up alongside the ship and knew he had to attract attention from on board. But he could not land on board with bombs.
Dr Davis went along and was assigned the chief gunners mate to be his guide, a man who had spent 30 years in the Navy.
Dr Davis explained to him what it was like to be on the ship and then he explained what it was like for him.
During the tour through all the spaces he worked in, he discovered he had been doing the work of three division officers who, during the Gulf War and Iraq, would ''launch in one whole tour what we launched in a day''.
It was a very serious time of his life and it had some detrimental effects on his family, which was one reason he left the Navy.
Some had stayed, became admirals and ''lost their families''.
During his two decades in the Navy, he did not spend a three-month stint at home.
He readily acknowledged ''family came second'', but he was ''probably still here'' because of that.
When he realised his wife wanted to return to New Zealand with their five children, it gave him time to realise what his career had done to his family, something he had not fully realised until that time.
So he turned in his papers and asked for retirement and the family returned to Mrs Davis' family farm in Wyndham.
Asked how he coped with the transition from naval aviator to farmhand, he quipped: ''I found out sheep don't take orders''.
As a child, he spent time on a farm where he learned to milk cows by hand and dig potatoes ''and do all the things you do on a general farm'', so he was not unaware of that lifestyle.
He worked as a farm labourer for four years but realised his salary was not enough to support his family and he would have to do something else.
Due to his flying experience, he joined the local aero club in Gore and applied to become a flight instructor.
Initially, the club did not want him, concerned that, as a military pilot, he would be hard on his students.
Biding his time, he eventually got the job but car-less days, introduced by the Government in July, 1979, had a big effect and he was often ''sitting there doing nothing''.
So Dr Davis applied to Massey University to study vet intermediate.
He had previously been sent to the University of Mississippi by the Navy.
''Boy, that was a tough year. It was a survival course for me. ''There were about 260 students taking vet intermediate.
''Most were really bright kids just out of high school; I hadn't been to school for years.''
He had a job waiting for him, if he got through vet school, as the local vet in Edendale had promised him a job.
By the end of the year, he was placed 65th with a B-average but he did not make it into the second year as a B-plus or better was required.
But all was not lost as it was a ''damn good start'' on a science degree and he went on to complete a BSc in zoology and MSc in zoology and parasitology at the University of Otago.
While finishing his MSc he was ''head-hunted'' by local school Menzies College which lost a science teacher mid-year.
He was asked to stand in for the teacher until the end of the year and so he did that while also doing his research work.
A bonus was it was the early days of computers being used and he was able to take the school computer home to use for his research.
He also taught at Blue Mountain College in Tapanui.
In 1987, Dr and Mrs Davis moved to Waimate where they have farmed and where Dr Davis also taught at the local secondary school.
Keen to get back into research, Dr Davis applied to do a PhD in duck itch.
During visits to his Bremner Bay holiday home in Wanaka, he became interested in duck itch parasites after noticing how miserable children were getting from itching skin welts after swimming in the lake.
Over the years, he published papers and gave presentations on it but despite completing his PhD, was only involved in research on an ''ad hoc basis''.
''This duck itch problem could quite easily be quite a serious problem. There hasn't been enough medical research into the effect on humans,'' he said.
Dr Davis' interest in flying has remained - he is chief instructor at Waimate Aero Club.
