MASS RNZAF AIRCRAFT FLY PAST

[SEAN]

Hi All

I have just finished reading the book "The Quest For Wings" by Lance Adlam, which I thought was excellent. There is one part of it I would like to quote below, in case anyone has some photos of this event, as I have never seen any, or even heard of this event. Anyway here is the quote from page 65 of the book:

"Over in England Bomber Harris was beginning to do effective work with Bomber Command and not long before our course ended at Woodbourne 1000 bombers had raided Cologne in a single night. To let the people of the Capital City see what that would be like the RNZAF Chiefs decided to fly a large number of aeroplanes over Wellington. On of the marshalling points for these aircraft was Blenheim. One day when I arrived in my Harvard back from Lake Grassmere I looked down on Woodbourne airfield and was amazed to see the whole field covered with different types of aircraft, with just narrow strip left for take-offs and landing."

So If anyone has some photos of this, they would be great to see.

[Dave Homewood]

Wow, that sounds fascinating. I guess if it was a little after the first Thousand Bomber Raid this would be post-30th May 1942. So perhaps if you go through archives of Wellington newspapers for June or July 1942 it may have photos. It surely must have been publicised as a morale booster.