Royal New Zealand Air Force

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Those known to have served with
Royal New Zealand Air Force
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

Austen Desmond Thomas. P/O. (d.13th January 1942)
Best Maurice Sydney. LAC. (d.6th December 1940)
Biggar John Matthew. Flt.Sgt. (d.12th Sep 1944)
Brown Charles Frederick Peter. F/Lt.
Brown Ralph Osborne. F/Lt.
Burge DFC. Alfred William. F/Lt.
Corich DFM. Malcolm Joseph. F/O.
Cowan DFC, MID. Neville Lawrence Roy. F/O.
Douglas Arthur Bernard. W/O.
Farrow James Phillip. Sqd.Ldr.
Flanagan John Clifford. F/O.
Flower George Dodson. LAC. (d.11th September 1945)
Fyfe Angus Graham. F/Lt.
George Alan.
Hadley John Ross. L/A/C (d.6th April 1943)
Hadley Wilson Orchard. F/O. (d.12th Sep 1944)
Hamilton Matthew Miller. Flt.Sgt. (d.22nd April 1944)
Harris Leo Frederick. Flt.Sgt. (d.6th September 1943)
Hay Kenneth Joseph. Pte.
Haycock Maurice Roy. Flt.Sgt. (d.4th September 1944)
Henderson Gordon G.. Flt.Sgt. (d.25th June 1943)
Holder Donald Fraser. F/O. (d.27th Aug 1944)
Holmes Norman Robert. F/O. (d.23rd June 1942)
Hookway Frederick. F/O
Hore Lawrence Harry. Warrent Officer
Hudson AFC. Gordon David. F/O. (d.27th Mar 1945)
Joyce DFM. Ernest Leslie. Sq.Ldr. (d.17th June 1944)
Kell Lancelot. Flt.Sgt. (d.14th Jan 1944)
Larnach Francis Magnus. Flt.Sgt. (d.30th July 1944)
Livesey Fred Ellis. Flt.Sgt.
Livingstone DFC. David. F/Lt.
Lyell Clive Ireson. W/O.
Marquet Raymond Thomas. W/O.
Martin Donald James. Sgt
Martyn John Basil. Sgt. (d.30th March 1943)
McCord Edward Alexander. Sgt. (d.15th Oct 1942)
Mills Mervyn Jack. F/O. (d.19th Nov 1942)
Murphy Stanley Oldfield John. Sgt.
Murray Henry James. F/O (d.19th April 1944)
Nilsson Douglas James. PO
Parkinson Richard Cole. Flt.Sgt.
Perrot MID George Oscar. Sgt.
Steed Jack William. WO (d.28th October 1944)
Suckling Russell Henry. F/O. (d.28th August 1942)
Sutherland Norman James. Flt.Sgt. (d.17th Aug 1942)
Taylor Jack. Fly/Off. (d.7th August 1944)
Thiele DSO, DFC. Keith.
Trigg VC DFC. Lloyd Allen. F/O. (d.11th Aug 1943)
Trigg VC, DFC. LLoyd Allan. F/O (d.11th Aug 1943)
Turner Archibald Clarke. Flt.Sgt.
Walker Maurice Newton. P/O
Walker Stanley James. F/Lt.
Ward VC. James Allen. Sgt. (d.15th Sep 1941)
Ward VC. James Allen. Sgt. (d.15th Sep 1941)
Ward John. F/Lt. (d.30th Nov 1944)
Waring John Alfred. F/O.
Webster DFC. Robert George. Flt.Lt.
Weir Harrison. Flt.Sgt. (d.4th June 1943)
White Owen Beamish. Flt.Sgt (d.24th Sep 1942)
Whitechurch Edward Kimpton. F/O. (d.22nd Mar 1945)
Williams DFC Rodney Greville. F/Lt.
Wright Alan. LAC.

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of Royal New Zealand Air Force from other sources.

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Want to know more about Royal New Zealand Air Force?

There are:4 items tagged Royal New Zealand Air Force available in our Library

These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.

Flt.Sgt. Leo Frederick Harris 90 Squadron (d.6th September 1943)

Leo Harris served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force and lost his life whilst on No.90 Squadron.

Wayne Hall

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W/O. Clive Ireson Lyell

Clive Lyell's plane was shot down near Heligoland, and he and his navigator, Frank Hitchcock RNZAF, spent 4 days in the North Sea in a rubber dinghy before being picked up by a German destroyer. Taken prisoner, they were then transferred to Stalag Luft 7.

K.P. Lyell

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F/Lt. Ralph Osborne Brown 129 Squadron

Fl/Lt. Ralph Brown, enlisted on the 2nd May 1942 as a pilot with the RNZAF and trained in Canada and United Kingdom. He served from the the 31st of October 1942 until the 21st December 1945 on operations. Released at the end of hostilities on the 9th March 1946. Commissioned into general reserve on the 6th October 1950 until he retired on the 9th September 1974. He was awarded the 1939-45 Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal, War Medal 1939-45 and the New Zealand War Service Medal.
Formerly of Dayman Way The Wood and Maori Hill Dunedin at Ernest Rutherford Retirement Village. Loved husband of the late Jean (67 years). Loved father and father-in-law of Derek (deceased), Gered and the late Ray (Wellington), Delwyn (Sydney), and grandfather of Nathaniel and Georgia, Sam and Di; Katie and Yanos, Jemima and Sam, and Jacqueline Bartlett. Great-grandfather of Zoe, Ada, Mia, Arlo, Luca, and Odette.

Nathaniel Marshall

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F/O. Norman Robert Holmes (d.23rd June 1942)

We do not have much detail on Norman Holmes as he seems to have left the folk lore of the wider family.

Nick Brady

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F/O. Neville Lawrence Roy Cowan DFC, MID. 148 Sqn

Flying Officer Neville Cowan served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force flying with 148 Squadron RAF in WW2. He carried out 48 operational sorties against objectives in Germany and Libya and targets in the Mediterranean area. He made 13 attacks on Bengasi. He once brought his aeroplane safely to his base, although one engine had failed. At all times he has shown great keenness and efficiency and complete disregard of enemy opposition.
Neville went on to serve in the RAF in Malaya during the Malayan crisis where he was Mentioned in Dispatches. He retired from the RAF as a Squadron Leader in 1958/59.
Neville had 2 other brothers that served as well in 9 Squadron, both of whom were also awarded the DFC.

Andrew Cowan

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F/O. Mervyn Jack "Boy" Mills 132 Squadron (d.19th Nov 1942)

Mervyn Mills was the son of George William Alfred Worthy Mills and Gwendoline Eleanor Mills of Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand. He did his initial training at Levin in New Zealand and then trained in Canada. He served with 132 Squadron.

Brian Vonlanthen

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LAC. Alan Wright A Flight 489 Squadron

I have six wartime group photos of RAF/RNZAF aircrew. Four of these show airmen by or in Hampdens and think that these are all of 489 Squadron.
One group photograph includes members of A Flight 489 (TB) Squadron RNZAF taken (I think) in 1942-3. On it, as far as I can make out from the signatures on the reverse, are: S F Watkins, Halpey, Dai Davies, M Percey, W Coaey (Swooner), W Little, E Priest, R J Lombey, L S Peat, Alan Wright, F Walker and two others whose signatures are almost impossible to make out. The aircraft is certainly a Hampden and certainly includes ground crew. One of these ground crew members appears on the short film upload of crew approaching an aircraft in a truck, that has been uploaded onto the web. This may help date the photos more accurately. I know that the squadron had Hampdens between March 1942 and November 1943 that they switched to Beaufighters in November 1943 until August 1945.
Another of the other photos is of (what appears to be) all of 59 Army Cooperation Squadron (157 servicemen) and a Beaufighter. The final group photo may be of newly qualified Aircraftsmen passing out in 1939.
I know that my father, Alan Wright, was stationed at Wick during the war (which may narrow the date down further March to 5 August 1942) but I cannot rule out that he may also have been stationed at Dallachy later in the War. He certainly talked about the base. I do know that he was transferred overseas to Ireland just as the squadron was starting to be issued with Beaufighters.

Jonathan Wright

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Flt.Sgt. Gordon G. Henderson 90 Squadron (d.25th June 1943)

Gordon Henderson was born at Cessnock, New South Wales, Australia, on the 7th of March 1913.
He was a member of the crew of Stirling Bomber BK813 on a bombing raid over the city of Wuppertal in Germany departing West Wickham Airbase on the 24th June 1943 at 2332 hours. BK813 was shot down over Belgium by the German night-fighter Kollak Reinhard at 0139 hours on the 25th June. Six of the seven crew members died in the crash. They were all buried in the Haasrode Churchyard Cemetery in Belgium. Other crew members were:
Flt. Sgt. (Pilot) Walter Henry Teede RAAF, 16774 age 29,
Sgt. (Air Bomber) Aubrey Charles Harris RAF, 1319009, age 30,
Sgt. (Nav.) Hyman Levine RAF, 658831 age 30,
Flt. Sgt (W.Op) Leo Peterson, RNZAF, 403611, age 22,
Sgt (Air Gunner) Patrick James Taylor RAF, 1346152 age 26, and
Flt. Sgt. (Flt. Engr) Edward Henry Stanton RAF

Stanton baled out and was aided by the local Resistance and after being taken to Bree, he was helped as far as Paris but was arrested by the Germans and held at the Fresnes prison before being sent to Germany and a POW camp.
Flt Sgt. Henderson was one of seven children born to Australian parents, Charles and Agnes Henderson (Phee) who lived in Cessnock. He moved to New Zealand with his parents and at age twelve attended secondary school at the Rotorua High School in 1925. He returned to Australia and completed an Engineering course at the Newcastle Technical College. He undertook an Engineering apprenticeship at Walsh Island Government Dockyards from 1926 to 1930.
He then moved back to New Zealand in 1930 with his parents. He ran a milk run in Rotorua with a friend Ray Spence, sold radios and washing machines with his father, and went farming for a while with friends Percy and Ailsa Newton. He was a keen rugby player, golfer, played tennis and was a strong swimmer.
On 19th September 1936, he married Gwyneth Babette (Betty) Frogley in Auckland, New Zealand and joined the Army but a bad reaction to injections saw him medically discharged. They lived at 4 Eruera Street in Rotorua where his family had settled after migrating from Australia. Their daughter, Janice Esmae Henderson, was born on the 17th of April 1937.
As he had left school early, he attended night school at Cambridge N.Z. (near Hamilton) and obtained his school certificate. He also had his own business as a haulage contractor in Rotorua. He was interested in flying and completed 35 hours of flying as a pupil of the Rotorua Flying Club.
Flt. Sgt. Henderson was enlisted at the Initial Training Wing, Levin, New Zealand on the 25th January 1942 and embarked for Canada on the 2nd of March 1942, on the Empire Air Training scheme.
He arrived in Canada early in April and on the 12th of that month, was posted to No. 3 Wireless School, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In early August 1942 his wireless training ended and he was posted to the Composite Training School and re-mustered to Air Gunner. He arrived at No. 3 Bombing and Gunner School, MacDonald, Manitoba and on the 25th of September was awarded the Air Gunners Badge and promoted to Sergeant.
On the 3rd of October, 1942 he proceeded to No.1 Y Depot, Halifax, Nova Scotia for embarkation to the United Kingdom. He arrived at No. 3 Personnel Reception Centre, Bournemouth late October 1942 and on the 16th of November was posted posted to No. 11 Operational Training Unit at Westcott, where he crewed up and completed his training as Air Gunner on Wellington Bomber Aircraft.
On the 4th of March, 1943, he proceeded to No. 1657 Conversion Unit, Stradishell, Suffolk for conversion to Stirling Bomber Aircraft and on the 15th of April was posted to No. 90 Squadron, West Wickham, Cambridge. He was promoted to Flight Sergeant on the 1st of June, 1943.
With Squadron 90, he took part in 11 operational flights the targets including Dortmund (2), Duisberg, Dusseldorf (2), Wuppertel, Krefeld, Mulheim in Germany, and Le Creusot in France, and one mine-laying operation in enemy waters.

Bruce Orbell

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Flt.Sgt. Francis Magnus Larnach 489 Squadron (d.30th July 1944)

Flight Sergeant (Navigator) Francis Larnach was the son of John Magnus and Jane Larnach and husband of Helen Larnach of Strathmore Taranaki, New Zealand. He was 33 when he died and is buried in the Grimstad Cemetery in Norway.

S Flynn

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LAC. George Dodson Flower (d.11th September 1945)

Leading Aircraftman George Flower was the Son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Flower, of Bulls. He was 65 when he died and is buried in the Bulls (Clifton) Cemetery, Rangitikei District, New Zealand.

S flynn

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Available at discounted prices.

The Wartime Memories Project
- Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War -

Royal New Zealand Air Force

Logbooks

Those known to have served with
Royal New Zealand Air Force
during the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about Royal New Zealand Air Force?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project - Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War -

Royal New Zealand Air Force

Logbooks

Those known to have served with Royal New Zealand Air Forceduring the Second World War 1939-1945.

The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements

Want to know more about Royal New Zealand Air Force?

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project
- Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War -

Those known to have served with
Royal New Zealand Air Force
during the Second World War 1939-1945.