Hijack of Boeing One

“Smyth explained that he's now writing a book about how the bureaucracy had dealt with Earnshaw and the North Head quest. Given his penchant for selective use of facts, a book about his dealings with the Government, the Navy, Lands and Surveys, Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park and the Department of Conservation could be a bit of a nightmare.”

Department of Conservation inter-departmental Memo

To: Bill Mansfield, Director General

cc: John Daniels, Historic Resources

Dr. Graeme Campbell, Regional Conservator,

Auckland Conservancy 05 March 1992.

Text Box: INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY click here

Dr. Campbell’s Prediction

By the end of 1992 the stack of unselected ‘Facts’, including photographs, interviews, video and audio tapes, witness statements and copies of official records and correspondence filled three drawers of a large filing cabinet. By the conclusion of the High Court litigation in 2003, during which many more of these ‘Facts’ previously withheld by government agencies (sometimes in defiance of the Official Information Act) had bubbled to the surface, the stack of ‘Facts’ was large enough for a portly bureaucrat to hide behind.

Were these ‘Facts’ to be simply bound into book form, even without a generous helping of flowery prose to reference them to one another, the resulting publication would be encyclopedic in stature and would have to be sold with a hand cart to facilitate removal from the book store.

Sorting and culling, indeed “selecting”, the ‘Facts’ for the final story has so far taken another four years - and Dr. Campbell was correct: it has been a bit of a nightmare; although, clearly, that was not what was worrying him. What was worrying him was the completion of the work-in-progress featured in this website.

Contact details for further information are HERE. Investment opportunities are available for interested parties CLICK HERE. Sample chapters of the book (on which the documentary is based) can be viewed HERE and some of the original ‘90s version of the boeingone.org website can be accessed HERE.

is a book and video documentary project

Written by Jon Smyth based on original research

and the research of John Earnshaw

“Now that ceaseless exposure has calloused us to the lewd and the vulgar, it is instructive to see what still seems wicked to us. What still slaps the clammy flab of our submissive consciousness hard enough to get our attention?”

Thomas Harris

The replica of Bluebill (B&W1) sits on the tarmac next to a Boeing 737 showing the magnificent stature of the 1916 biplane. CLICK HERE to view the galley page.

The promotional excerpts on this website and in the book promotion document

MAY NOT be reproduced in whole or in part in any way whatsoever without the written permission of the author.

Contact: J Smyth P O Box 60630 Titirangi 0642 Waitakere City ~info@boeingone.org

This document is an introduction to the story about the fate of “Bluebill”, the first Boeing airplane, that disappeared in Auckland, New Zealand in 1925. It is also a story about the 'hijacking' of John Earnshaw's “Search For Boeing One” documentary film:- an odyssey that began as an intriguing idea in 1978, led to a treasure hunt for hidden tunnels in 1988 and that finally crashed and burned at the High Court, Auckland in 2003.

Set against the background of the search for a priceless relic of aviation history and the enigma of the North Head Tunnels, THE HIJACK OF BOEING ONE is a story of mystery and deceit involving broken promises, breached contracts, plagiarism, Machiavellian conniving and a whole lot of antics not normally associated with historical research.

Between 1978 and 2004, a ‘ripping yarn’ of vintage aircraft and hidden tunnels became a darker tale about the rancorous side of human nature, duplicitous bureaucracy and the scything of tall poppies.