House of Harkness V
Published: 2014
Total Pages: 585
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Captain Donald E. Harkness Sr., DSC, RNAS/RAF, the author of the original WWI diaries this book is based on, was born in Nelson, New Zealand on August 27, 1894, where he was raised and educated. He interrupted his undergraduate studies in engineering to sail off to London, at age 21, in hopes of joining the nascent air service and defend his mother country against the Germans in WWI. Stationed in France with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) since early 1916, he soon specialized as a bomber pilot, and led many bombing raids, which included the raid that earned him the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), as well as his last raid that wounded him and damaged his plane, causing him to crash-land in Holland. There he was interned, and worked with the underground to help Belgian refugees and downed Allied pilots evade capture. Subsequent to WWI he completed his engineering degree at Canterbury College and obtained a position as consulting engineer for New York's Bear Mountain Bridge project. After returning to New Zealand in early 1925, he was appointed Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the Auckland University School of Engineering. In 1926 he married his New York landlord's daughter, and took on additional duties as Acting Head of the Department of Engineering. In 1929 he launched a new aerial delivery service in Auckland, intending in time to include all of New Zealand and Australia. However, on December 12, 1929, he and his mechanic drowned when the seaplane they were test-piloting for this new venture suddenly failed and crashed into Auckland Harbour.