Background
Mercer was born in Dunedin and when he left school, he worked as a bicycle and car mechanic.
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Bert Mercer
Edit ProfileCareer
Mercer learned to fly while working as a mechanic at the Sockburn airport in Christchurch and became the Canterbury Aeronautical Club"s first instructor when it formed in 1928. In 1934 Mercer set up Air Travel (New Zealand) Limited which became the first licensed airline to commence services in New Zealand with its inaugural flight on 18 December from Hokitika. Very shortly after the airline began delivering mail.
Mercer died in an aircrash in 1944 when the company"s Dragon ZK-AHT, piloted by Colin Lewis, crashed on Mount Hope, en route from Nelson to Westport.
He is buried in the Hokitika Cemetery. In 1945, not long after Mercer died in an air crash, the company came under government control but continued until 1967 when the national air carrier NAC began flights into Hokitika.
Eleven pilots flew for Air Travel (New Zealand) Limited between 1934 and 1947.
