Ray Archibald. R.I.P.

[shamus]

Don't know if I missed this somewhere but note from this mornings Herald the passing of Ray Archibald and his funeral service to be at Wigram. Ray was flying Vincents in the No 22 Army Co-op Sqn. at Norwood and also flew Hinds during the war. I am sure many more forum members will be able to enlarge on his RNZAF experience.

[Dave Homewood]

That is sad news, but it is somewhat surprising to me as I was doing some research in June 2008 and was trying to contact him. I contacted his old company Archibald Barr Motors in Christchurch, and was told by their General Manager then that Ray was dead, two years ago!

[shamus]

Dave, here is a copy of the notice in today's NZ Herald. I notice it says DFC, so I am pretty sure it would be him. I know he was in the motor business and had the Jaguar agency for Christchurch.
Sometime later he either joined up with Shorters (Auck. Jaguar agents) or was taken over, and it became Archibald & Shorters as it is today. Would be too co-incidental to have two Ray Archibalds.
Would be pleased to have confirmation.

[Dave Homewood]

Yes this is most certainly got to be him, so the puzzling thing is why I was told over two years ago he had "sadly passed away". It must have been a mix up.

Either way it's very sad, a great New Zealand hero gone. I note it is asking for donations to Parkinson's NZ, I guess he suffered with this dreadful disease. RIP

[baz62]

Sad to hear of his passing. Wonder if "NZ2415" will do a flypast?

[mands]

Hi, I am new to this forum. I came across this site whilst looking for information on my Granddad Pop (or Ray as you would know him). I would just like to say it makes me very proud to be his granddaughter when I hear of all the lovely thing people have to say about him. If anyone has any pictures of my granddad during either his flying years of Jaguar days they would be much appreciated as I would love to be able to give them to my mum (Deedee). Thanks in advance for any help and if anyone would like a copy of the order of service from Friday please let me know.

Amanda

[Dave Homewood]

Welcome to the forum Amanda, my thoughts have been with your family. Your grandfather has certainly been one of the people in New Zealand aviation who made a mark. I've heard a lot of good things said about him over the years.

Cheers
Dave

[chook]

Hi, this is a bit late in the piece as I have only just seen this post, but if you see this Amanda, send me a pp and I'll email a few photos I have of your grandfather during his airforce days. Regards Rob.

[davidd]

I grew up in Pigeon Bay on Banks Peninsula (1950s, early 60s) and had some friends there who lived down by the boatsheds and wharf by the name of Lane. Now Jim and Eva Lane were a lovely couple with one son, but humble (Jim was the cowman/gardner for the Annandale estate, and Eva helped (unpaid) provide the cooking for the shearers in the season), and they were sometimes visited by a well to do family from Christchurch who used to arrive in a large Jaguar car. The man of the latter family was a tall, handsome and confident fellow, and 'though I knew they were called the Archibalds, I never knew of any aviation connection, and nor did I ever learn their actual relationship to the Lane family. Both Jim and Eva Lane have since passed on, but I did learn of another connection (and an aviation one!) with Pigeon Bay about two or three years ago of which I was quite unaware. This was told to me by Jim Hay, JP (who died in Sept 2011), and he also knew Ray Archibald. Now the Pigeon Bay school dates back to 1852, so when came the time to celebrate its centennial year, somebody (I strongly suspect Jim Hay!) came up with the idea of having a spectacular flightpast on the big day by "a friend". According to Jim H, the sound of a Merlin (Packard of course!) could be heard as an aircraft passed high overhead, then receeded somewhat before it turned and then an increasing winding up sound could be heard as it descended and increased speed back up the Bay to scream over the school (and the gathered hundreds!) VERY low before climbing once again to its cruising altitude and continue on its was on its official "training flight" - probably "flying practice" or "monthly continuation". That person, of course, was Ray. Only thing that annoyed me about this story is that when I wrote the history of my old school, I did not know of this tale, and even though Jim Hay was very keen to assist with the telling of this history, he forgot about this particular incident till about 10 years after the celebrations!
David D