Sir Harry Wigley, born Henry Rodolph Wigley (2 February 1913 – 15 September 1980) was a pilot, entrepreneur and pioneer of the New Zealand tourism industry.

In the 1930s Wigley entered the family firm, the Mount Cook Tourist Company of New Zealand

Mount Cook Group

Mount Cook Group, earlier called Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Company was a New Zealand tourism and transport operator and former owner of Mount Cook Airline...

 which his father had founded, but he had begun pilot training while in his teens, and at the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force

Royal New Zealand Air Force

The Royal New Zealand Air Force is the air arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...

, first as a flying instructor, then as a fighter pilot in the Pacific - leaving with the rank of Wing Commander

Wing Commander (rank)

Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...

He had been captain of the New Zealand ski team in 1936–37, and after the war led his company in establishing new ski-fields and facilities at Coronet Peak

Coronet Peak

Coronet Peak is a commercial skifield in Otago, New Zealand located 18 kilometres to the northeast of the town of Queenstown and seven kilometres west of Arrowtown, on the southern slopes of the 1,649 metre peak which shares its name...

 and Lake Ohau

Ohau (skifield)

Ohau is a small commercial skifield in the foothills of New Zealand's Southern Alps, near the boundary between the Otago and Canterbury regions, and close to the southwestern shore of the lake of the same name.- Details :...

.

In the early 1950s he also encouraged the company to involve itself in the aerial topdressing businesses, and in 22 September 1955 he successfully landed on the snowfield of the Tasman Glacier

Tasman Glacier

The Tasman Glacier is the largest of several glaciers which flow south and east towards the Mackenzie Basin from the Southern Alps in New Zealand's South Island. It is New Zealand's longest glacier.-Geography:...

 with an Auster Aiglet aircraft fitted with retractable wooden skis of his own design. After that flight, which was reputed to be the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere, ski-plane trips to Tasman Glacier became a key part of the Mt Cook tourism http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/BushAndMountainRecreation/Skiing/3/en.

Unfortunately after a very full and amazing life, Wigley died of a heart attack in Christchurch in 1980. He was a great man.

External links

• http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=5W29
• http://www.teara.govt.nz/Places/SouthCanterbury/SouthCanterbury/11/ENZ-Resources/Biography/1/en
• http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlscant/wigley.htm
• http://www.newzealand.com/travel/media/features/adventure/adventure_mtcookski_feature.cfm/topic/9986353f-bcd8-304b-0805-657c868210f9.html