ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! - Royal New Zealand Air Force

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celebrating 75 Years of service to new Zealand Two Spitfires were on show at Anniversary air show. The Spitfire has become an icon of wwII and a symbol of britain’s war effort*. Its distinctive wing shape and the smooth sound of the mighty Merlin engine re-create for air show crowds the atmosphere from over 70 years ago when Spitfires, together with Hawker Hurricanes, fought for freedom against the Nazi menace. TWo SPiTFiRES After wwII, Supermarine developed a two-seat trainer version of the Spitfire Mark IX known as a Spitfire Tr IX and the type was used by the Israeli and Irish Air Forces. This Spitfire’s owner, doug brooker of Auckland, imported the fighter from the USA in 2007. His two seater, Fl-A, is painted in desert colours and commemorates colin Gray, who became New Zealand’s highest scoring fighter pilot of wwII. CoLin GRAy. colin Gray left NZ to join the RAF in 1938. He fought in the battle of britain and was soon recognised for his leadership. while in the Uk he shot down 17 enemy aircraft and in late 1942 he was posted to North Africa to take command of No.81 Sqn, the first unit to fly the Spitfire Mk IX in the Mediterranean Theatre. by the time the North African campaign ended in May 1943 colin Gray had destroyed a further five enemy aircraft and was awarded the dSo. Promoted to wing commander, he was appointed to lead 322 wing for the invasion of Sicily. In that campaign he shot down 5 more aircraft, bringing his total to 27, with one more shared and a further 22 probably destroyed or damaged. once back in england he held two successive commands in training units before being appointed wing commander Flying of the detling wing in late July 1944. The wing flew in support of the Army in europe and sorties against the V-1 flying bombs. colin Gray retired from the RAF in March 1961 as a Group captain; he returned to NZ and retired at waikanae, where he died in 1995. ALAn DEERE. The other Spitfire is a Mk IX in the grey/green camouflage of the european theatre and coded Al, the markings of the Spitfire flown by wing commander Alan deere. A New Zealander, Alan deere passed selection for the RAF in 1937 and sailed for england. He began flying training in october 1937 and early in 1938 he was granted a short service 26 Air Force news commission in the RAF. Alan was posted to No. 54 Sqn and at the beginning of 1940 they converted from Gladiators to the Spitfire Mk 1. like many other pilots, deere was delighted with the Spitfire, describing it as “the most beautiful and easy aircraft to fly.” before the battle of britain opened he had already claimed 6 enemy aircraft, had been shot down once and been awarded the dFc. during the battle he claimed another 5, with several probables. However, he was forced down three times, including being bombed on take off from Hornchurch airfield. In early September 1940 No.54 Sqn was rotated to Northern england to rest and regroup; deere was awarded a bar to his dFc. Subsequently Alan deere rose to command the biggin Hill wing, was awarded the dSo and by d-day was commanding a Free French fighter wing. by the end of the war he had shot down 22 enemy aircraft. He was given a permanent commission in the RAF and served until 1977 reaching the rank of Group captain. He died in the Uk in 1995. Spitfire ‘Al’ has been fully restored by brendon deere of Feilding, a nephew of Alan. bought from the burmese Air Force, this airframe was painstakingly stripped down and fully restored, and is painted as Alan deere’s personal aircraft when he was leading the biggin Hill wing. This Spitfire is usually based at ohakea, by arrangement with the RNZAF. no. 485(nZ) SquADRon during February, both Spitfires had also been on show for a reunion at whenuapai of No.485 (NZ) Squadron, the wwII unit that flew Spitfires in Fighter command and with the 2nd Tactical Air Force for the invasion of Normandy and the advance through France to Germany in 1944-45. The veterans were pleased to see ‘their’ aircraft and to sit in the cockpit one more time. Today, No.485 wing at RNZAF base Auckland maintains the link to the original squadron in recognition of our Air Force’s rich heritage. *See also AFN 105, July 2009.
y simon gault ThunDER MuSTAnG! why does a chef want a hot rod toy like the P-51 Mustang? My dad, an ex-rNZaF instructor [see sidebar] always insisted that, because of the uncertainties of medicals and therefore livelihood, I should focus on some other career and fly as a hobby. I first began to fly gliders and later gained an instructor rating in that role. My dad relented at that point and taught me to fly powered aircraft—as I progressed he converted me to the Harvard. The particular aircraft in which we both owned syndicate shares was one that he had last flown 40 years previously at wigram as an FTS instructor. Never one to do things by halves, and having seen a Thunder Mustang at oshkosh (USA), I decided that I would own one of these 2/3rds scale P-51 replicas. we found one in South Africa which had flown only two hours; the test flight program had come to a halt and the project was going nowhere. we talked the owner into selling the aircraft and it was disassembled and shipped to New Zealand. AvSpecs, a highly regarded aircraft restoration company, reassembled what was now Zk-TMG and my father obtained a test pilot approval on the basis of his (long ago) P-51 flying in the RNZAF. The test flight program was completed and our small syndicate of three owners each converted onto the type by my dad. display flying remained my father’s domain but over time and after intensive training with him, I now fly all the display sorties at the various airshows. with a power to weight ratio of 1hp: 2.25kg, and a rate of climb at sea level of almost twice that of the original P-51, what chef wouldn’t want one? Take a look at www.kiwithunder.com/tigers blood celebrating 75 Years of service to new Zealand Photo: bob dedekind FlT lT bRYAN GAUlT RNZAF bryan Gault served in the RNZAF 1954-1958, enlisting on 02 January 1954. He did his basic training at RNZAF Station Taieri before undertaking his pilot training at wigram with No. 16 Pilots course. He was awarded his flying badge on 17 december, 1954. bryan attained the rank of Flight lieutenant before being posted to the Active Reserve on october 1958. He joined Tasman empire Airways ltd (TeAl— which was later renamed Air New Zealand) first flying l188 electras and subsequently captaining most long-haul types in Air NZ’s fleet, including b747s. Air Force news 27
Page 1 and 2: ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! FIGHTING SPIR
Page 3 and 4: First word First Word By Air Vice-M
Page 5 and 6: The chief of defence Force has laun
Page 7 and 8: Rear Admiral Steer, VcdF and AVM St
Page 9 and 10: SECoND P-3K2 ACCEPTED on 16 March P
Page 11 and 12: The tail of Hercules NZ7004 checker
Page 13 and 14: Air Movements personnel at work: lA
Page 15 and 16: Antarctica seen from a c-130 cockpi
Page 17 and 18: celebrating 75 Years of service to
Page 19 and 20: wwI dogfight; the Fokker dVII ( r)
Page 21 and 22: The c-17 on a slow pass with flaps
Page 23 and 24: A No.3 Sqn Iroquois is crowded with
Page 25: one of the warbird stars of the RNZ
Page 29 and 30: Air Force Photographers corporals b
Page 31 and 32: dUMbo dIARY, RoYAl New ZeAlANd AIR
Page 33 and 34: y FlTlT lee bradford RNZAF personne
Page 35 and 36: Activity camps for young offenders.
Page 37 and 38: Avionics Pirates meet a watery end
Page 39 and 40: The 75 Years of the RNZAF stamp iss

ANNIVeRSARY AIR SHow! - Royal New Zealand Air Force

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