Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 26, 2012 23:25:35 GMT 12
There has been a discussion about people from Reefton and other West Coast of the South Island communities in the wartime Air Force on the thread about Terry Kearns but I think it is worth starting a new thread here.
Here are some snippets from articles found via Papers Past:
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Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 16, 19 July 1943, Page 4
AWARDED D.F.C.
NEW ZEALANDER IN-BURMA
With the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross to Warrant Officer Huon Andrew Chandler, R.N.Z.A.F., of Westport. Burma, enters the already wide field where New Zealanders have won decorations for gallantry in the air. "Warrant- Officer Chandler has taken part in many operational sorties over enemy territory in Burma," states official advice received by the Air Department,' Wellington. "On one occasion he was forced to land just north of the enemy's lines after the engine of his aircraft had been hit by anti-aircraft fire. Another time, when returning from an attack on Japanese shipping, his ammunition all gone; he was set on by Japanese fighters. He was wounded in the head and his aircraft was hit several times, but, with fortitude and skill, he managed to get back safely. In air combat he has destroyed one enemy bomber. He has always pressed home his attacks with fearlessness and determination and has set a magnificent example.
In civil life a clerk in the Customs Office in Westport. Warrant Officer Chandler will be 25 years of age next October. He was born in Granity and educated there and at Reefton District High School. His father is Mr. H Chandler, North Beach, Westport.
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Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 50, 27 August 1940, Page 11
ROYAL AIR FORCE
LIVES FOR COUNTRY
TWO NEW ZEALAND PILOTS
(By Telegraph—Press Association.)
CHRISTCHURCH, This Day,
Reports of the deaths of two Christchurch pilots in the Royal Air Force have been received—Pilot Officer Ronald Stanley Magee, aged 25, son of Mrs. C. M. Magee, of Gracefield Avenue, and Sergeant Pilot Robert Henry Clifford, aged 24, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Clifford, of Worcester Street.
Educated at the Reefton District High School and St. Bede's College, Pilot Officer Magee was a member of the Canterbury Aero Club and the Rongotai Aero Club, where he obtained his A and B licences. After leaving St. Bede's in 1932 he was engaged in surveying. Later he joined the artillery and after receiving training at Trentham was stationed at Fort Dorset for two years. He left Fort Dorset to join the R.N.Z.A.F. in June of last year and passed out from Wigram on January 15 of this year. He was married to Miss Shirley Buchanan, Cashmere Hills, a fortnight before he left for Home.
_______________________________________________
Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 145, 16 December 1939, Page 12
(Truncated for this)
N.Z. AIR FORCE
FURTHER RECRUITS
POSTED FOR TRAINING
Further official lists of recruits to the Royal New Zealand Air Force have been made available for publication.....
Flight Mechanics.—At Wigram.—Lockington, G. G. (Reefton);
_______________________________________________
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 116, 19 May 1942, Page 3
ROLL OF HONOUR
MITCHELL, Herbert X., P/O. R.N.Z.A.F., missing on air operations; Reefton.
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Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 111, 6 November 1942, Page 4
MORE AWARDS
NEW ZEALAND AIRMEN
Nine additional awards to New Zealand air personnel serving overseas are notified in official advice received by Air Headquarters, Wellington....
Pilot Officer (formerly Sergeant) Richard Stansfield Derek Kearns, R.N.Z.A.F.—Mr. J. T.. Kearns, P.O. Box 14, Reefton (relationship not stated).
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Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 5, 8 January 1944, Page 6
AIR FORCE LIST
NEW YEAR HONOURS
FOR SERVICE OVERSEAS
Eleven New Zealanders, members of the.R.A.F. or the R.N.Z.A.F., on active service overseas, are named in the New Year Honours List, details of which have been received from London by the Air Department, Wellington. The honours and their recipients are:— Commander of the Order of the British Empire. —Acting Group Captain Andrew McKee, D.5.0., D.F.C., A.F.C., R.A.F. Bar to Air Force Cross.— Wing Commander James Leonard Moir, A.F.C., R.A.F. Air Force Cross. —Acting Wing Commander Kenneth Frederick Vare, R.A.F.; Mrs; F. W. Vare, 15 Freeling Street, Island Bay, Wellington (mother). Acting Squadron Leader Rex Donald Daniell, R.A.F.; Mr. F. C. Daniell, 51 Essex Street, Masterton (father).' Acting Squadron Leader Maurice Craig Kinder, R.A.F.; Mrs. H. M. Kinder, 36 Bassett Road, Remueraj Auckland (mother). Acting Squadron- Leader Walter Desmond Heaphy, R.A.F.-; Mr. P. C. Heaphy, Palmerston Street, .Greymouth (father). Acting Squadron Leader Roy John Alexander Leslie, R.A.F.; Mrs. M. R. Leslie, Grey Street, Waitara (mother). Warrant Officer Howard William Player, R.N.Z.A.F.; Mrs. H. W. Player, 26 Ava Street, Petone (wife) and Mr. P N Player,. 36 Penrose. Street, Lower Hutt (father).
The following are listed as having received commendations for their services:— Flight Lieutenant Charles William Halliwell Thomson, R.A.F.; Mr. P. Thomson, Fenton Street, Stratford (father). Flying Officer Wallace Russel King, R.N.Z.A.F.; Mr. J. King, 641 Carrol Street, Te Kuiti (father). Flying Officer Hilton James Valentine Atkins, R.N.Z.A.F.; Mrs. G. J. Barbour, 19 Jackson Street, Timaru (sister). Acting-Group Captain McKee and Wing Commander Moir were pre-war entrants into the Royal Air Force.
NAVIGATION INSTRUCTOR. Taking an early interest in aviation, Wing Commander Vare, who was born at Wellington in 1913 and educated at Wellesley Boys' College and Wellington College, gained a civil pilot's A licence in 1936 as a member of the Wellington Aero Club. Gaining part of the Bachelor of Commerce degree as an undergraduate of the New Zealand University, he joined the staff of the Department of Agriculture, in whose employ he remained until sailing for the United Kingdom in 1937 to take up a short service commission with the Royal Air Force. He has had a wide experience in several specialised branches of service flying, and has qualified as an instructor in several of the sciences allied to modern air navigation.
Born at Hamilton in 1920, Acting Squadron Leader Daniell first applied for Royal Air Force service in 1938 when he was a senior pupil at Wairarapa College, Masterton. Prior to this, he had attended the Hamilton Technical High School and the Wairarapa Technical High School. Selected for short service training in the Royal Air Force, he was awaiting his call-up when war broke out. He thereupon volunteered for service with the R.N.Z.A.F. Commissioned on acceptance, he commenced his training in September, 1939, being then 19 years of age, and embarked for overseas service early in 1940.
Acting Squadron Leader Kinder first applied for Air Force service in 1935, having been a selectee in the "New Zealand Herald's" aviation scholarship in April of that year. Born at Auckland in 1913, he was educated at the Feilding Agricultural College, and gained his civil pilot's A licence in 1937 as a member of the Auckland Aero Club. At the beginning of 1938 he embarked for the United Kingdom to take up a short service commission with the Royal Air Force.
WEST COAST PILOT.
Accepted as a member of the Civil Reserve of pilots at the beginning of 1938, Acting Squadron Leader Heaphy gained his civil pilot's A licence in the same year as a member of the West Coast United Aero Club, Greymouth. Later accepted for a short service commission in the R.A.F., he commenced his training in England early in 1939. He was born at Greymouth in 1916, and received his secondary education at the Marist Brothers' School, Greymouth, St. Patrick's College, Silverstream, and the Technical High School, Greymouth. Until he was accepted for a short service commission early in 1939,
Acting. Squadron Leader Leslie was a member of the administrative staff of the Railway Department at New Plymouth. Undergoing his flying training in New Zealand first with the Wanganui Aero Club, and then at Service Flying Schools, he qualified as a pilot in November, 1939, and took up a short service commission with the Royal Air Force in the.following year. Last year he was listed in the Birthday Honours as having been mentioned in dispatches. He was born at Inglewood in 1919, and received his secondary education at the Stratford Technical High School and the New Plymouth Boys' High School.
Warrant Officer Player, who was born at Napier in 1914, and educated at the Napier Boys' High School, gained his civil pilot's A licence in 1937 as a member of the Wellington Aero Club, and later gained his B licence. He entered the R.N.Z.A.F. in 1941, and completed his service training in Canada.
ATLANTIC GLIDER EXPLOIT.
Prominent because of the part he played as a pilot in the Atlantic glider train exploit last year, Flight Lieutenant Thomson was born at Stratford in 1914, and educated at the Stratford Technical High School. Accepted for a short service commission in the Royal Air Force at the beginning of 1939, he embarked for training in England in the middle of the same year. Engaged in an engineering career in civil life, Flight Lieutenant Thomson was a pupil-member of the Stratford Aero Club, and was well known as a footballer, cricketer, mountaineer, and skier.
Flying Officer King applied for Air Force service in 1937, but was then too young for acceptance. He was born at Reefton in 1920 and received his secondary education at the Whangarei High School and the Westport Technical High School. He entered the R.N.Z.A.F. at the beginning of 1941 and was commissioned in the following year. A commercial traveller before he commenced R.N.Z.A.F. training in 1940, Flying Officer Atkins was born at Lower Hutt in 1917, and gained his senior free place at.secondary school. Trained as an air gunner, he embarked for service in the R.A.F. three and a half years ago.
_______________________________________________
I hope this is of interest to some people here.
Here are some snippets from articles found via Papers Past:
_______________________________________________
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 16, 19 July 1943, Page 4
AWARDED D.F.C.
NEW ZEALANDER IN-BURMA
With the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross to Warrant Officer Huon Andrew Chandler, R.N.Z.A.F., of Westport. Burma, enters the already wide field where New Zealanders have won decorations for gallantry in the air. "Warrant- Officer Chandler has taken part in many operational sorties over enemy territory in Burma," states official advice received by the Air Department,' Wellington. "On one occasion he was forced to land just north of the enemy's lines after the engine of his aircraft had been hit by anti-aircraft fire. Another time, when returning from an attack on Japanese shipping, his ammunition all gone; he was set on by Japanese fighters. He was wounded in the head and his aircraft was hit several times, but, with fortitude and skill, he managed to get back safely. In air combat he has destroyed one enemy bomber. He has always pressed home his attacks with fearlessness and determination and has set a magnificent example.
In civil life a clerk in the Customs Office in Westport. Warrant Officer Chandler will be 25 years of age next October. He was born in Granity and educated there and at Reefton District High School. His father is Mr. H Chandler, North Beach, Westport.
_______________________________________________
Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 50, 27 August 1940, Page 11
ROYAL AIR FORCE
LIVES FOR COUNTRY
TWO NEW ZEALAND PILOTS
(By Telegraph—Press Association.)
CHRISTCHURCH, This Day,
Reports of the deaths of two Christchurch pilots in the Royal Air Force have been received—Pilot Officer Ronald Stanley Magee, aged 25, son of Mrs. C. M. Magee, of Gracefield Avenue, and Sergeant Pilot Robert Henry Clifford, aged 24, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Clifford, of Worcester Street.
Educated at the Reefton District High School and St. Bede's College, Pilot Officer Magee was a member of the Canterbury Aero Club and the Rongotai Aero Club, where he obtained his A and B licences. After leaving St. Bede's in 1932 he was engaged in surveying. Later he joined the artillery and after receiving training at Trentham was stationed at Fort Dorset for two years. He left Fort Dorset to join the R.N.Z.A.F. in June of last year and passed out from Wigram on January 15 of this year. He was married to Miss Shirley Buchanan, Cashmere Hills, a fortnight before he left for Home.
_______________________________________________
Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 145, 16 December 1939, Page 12
(Truncated for this)
N.Z. AIR FORCE
FURTHER RECRUITS
POSTED FOR TRAINING
Further official lists of recruits to the Royal New Zealand Air Force have been made available for publication.....
Flight Mechanics.—At Wigram.—Lockington, G. G. (Reefton);
_______________________________________________
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 116, 19 May 1942, Page 3
ROLL OF HONOUR
MITCHELL, Herbert X., P/O. R.N.Z.A.F., missing on air operations; Reefton.
_______________________________________________
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 111, 6 November 1942, Page 4
MORE AWARDS
NEW ZEALAND AIRMEN
Nine additional awards to New Zealand air personnel serving overseas are notified in official advice received by Air Headquarters, Wellington....
Pilot Officer (formerly Sergeant) Richard Stansfield Derek Kearns, R.N.Z.A.F.—Mr. J. T.. Kearns, P.O. Box 14, Reefton (relationship not stated).
_______________________________________________
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 5, 8 January 1944, Page 6
AIR FORCE LIST
NEW YEAR HONOURS
FOR SERVICE OVERSEAS
Eleven New Zealanders, members of the.R.A.F. or the R.N.Z.A.F., on active service overseas, are named in the New Year Honours List, details of which have been received from London by the Air Department, Wellington. The honours and their recipients are:— Commander of the Order of the British Empire. —Acting Group Captain Andrew McKee, D.5.0., D.F.C., A.F.C., R.A.F. Bar to Air Force Cross.— Wing Commander James Leonard Moir, A.F.C., R.A.F. Air Force Cross. —Acting Wing Commander Kenneth Frederick Vare, R.A.F.; Mrs; F. W. Vare, 15 Freeling Street, Island Bay, Wellington (mother). Acting Squadron Leader Rex Donald Daniell, R.A.F.; Mr. F. C. Daniell, 51 Essex Street, Masterton (father).' Acting Squadron Leader Maurice Craig Kinder, R.A.F.; Mrs. H. M. Kinder, 36 Bassett Road, Remueraj Auckland (mother). Acting Squadron- Leader Walter Desmond Heaphy, R.A.F.-; Mr. P. C. Heaphy, Palmerston Street, .Greymouth (father). Acting Squadron Leader Roy John Alexander Leslie, R.A.F.; Mrs. M. R. Leslie, Grey Street, Waitara (mother). Warrant Officer Howard William Player, R.N.Z.A.F.; Mrs. H. W. Player, 26 Ava Street, Petone (wife) and Mr. P N Player,. 36 Penrose. Street, Lower Hutt (father).
The following are listed as having received commendations for their services:— Flight Lieutenant Charles William Halliwell Thomson, R.A.F.; Mr. P. Thomson, Fenton Street, Stratford (father). Flying Officer Wallace Russel King, R.N.Z.A.F.; Mr. J. King, 641 Carrol Street, Te Kuiti (father). Flying Officer Hilton James Valentine Atkins, R.N.Z.A.F.; Mrs. G. J. Barbour, 19 Jackson Street, Timaru (sister). Acting-Group Captain McKee and Wing Commander Moir were pre-war entrants into the Royal Air Force.
NAVIGATION INSTRUCTOR. Taking an early interest in aviation, Wing Commander Vare, who was born at Wellington in 1913 and educated at Wellesley Boys' College and Wellington College, gained a civil pilot's A licence in 1936 as a member of the Wellington Aero Club. Gaining part of the Bachelor of Commerce degree as an undergraduate of the New Zealand University, he joined the staff of the Department of Agriculture, in whose employ he remained until sailing for the United Kingdom in 1937 to take up a short service commission with the Royal Air Force. He has had a wide experience in several specialised branches of service flying, and has qualified as an instructor in several of the sciences allied to modern air navigation.
Born at Hamilton in 1920, Acting Squadron Leader Daniell first applied for Royal Air Force service in 1938 when he was a senior pupil at Wairarapa College, Masterton. Prior to this, he had attended the Hamilton Technical High School and the Wairarapa Technical High School. Selected for short service training in the Royal Air Force, he was awaiting his call-up when war broke out. He thereupon volunteered for service with the R.N.Z.A.F. Commissioned on acceptance, he commenced his training in September, 1939, being then 19 years of age, and embarked for overseas service early in 1940.
Acting Squadron Leader Kinder first applied for Air Force service in 1935, having been a selectee in the "New Zealand Herald's" aviation scholarship in April of that year. Born at Auckland in 1913, he was educated at the Feilding Agricultural College, and gained his civil pilot's A licence in 1937 as a member of the Auckland Aero Club. At the beginning of 1938 he embarked for the United Kingdom to take up a short service commission with the Royal Air Force.
WEST COAST PILOT.
Accepted as a member of the Civil Reserve of pilots at the beginning of 1938, Acting Squadron Leader Heaphy gained his civil pilot's A licence in the same year as a member of the West Coast United Aero Club, Greymouth. Later accepted for a short service commission in the R.A.F., he commenced his training in England early in 1939. He was born at Greymouth in 1916, and received his secondary education at the Marist Brothers' School, Greymouth, St. Patrick's College, Silverstream, and the Technical High School, Greymouth. Until he was accepted for a short service commission early in 1939,
Acting. Squadron Leader Leslie was a member of the administrative staff of the Railway Department at New Plymouth. Undergoing his flying training in New Zealand first with the Wanganui Aero Club, and then at Service Flying Schools, he qualified as a pilot in November, 1939, and took up a short service commission with the Royal Air Force in the.following year. Last year he was listed in the Birthday Honours as having been mentioned in dispatches. He was born at Inglewood in 1919, and received his secondary education at the Stratford Technical High School and the New Plymouth Boys' High School.
Warrant Officer Player, who was born at Napier in 1914, and educated at the Napier Boys' High School, gained his civil pilot's A licence in 1937 as a member of the Wellington Aero Club, and later gained his B licence. He entered the R.N.Z.A.F. in 1941, and completed his service training in Canada.
ATLANTIC GLIDER EXPLOIT.
Prominent because of the part he played as a pilot in the Atlantic glider train exploit last year, Flight Lieutenant Thomson was born at Stratford in 1914, and educated at the Stratford Technical High School. Accepted for a short service commission in the Royal Air Force at the beginning of 1939, he embarked for training in England in the middle of the same year. Engaged in an engineering career in civil life, Flight Lieutenant Thomson was a pupil-member of the Stratford Aero Club, and was well known as a footballer, cricketer, mountaineer, and skier.
Flying Officer King applied for Air Force service in 1937, but was then too young for acceptance. He was born at Reefton in 1920 and received his secondary education at the Whangarei High School and the Westport Technical High School. He entered the R.N.Z.A.F. at the beginning of 1941 and was commissioned in the following year. A commercial traveller before he commenced R.N.Z.A.F. training in 1940, Flying Officer Atkins was born at Lower Hutt in 1917, and gained his senior free place at.secondary school. Trained as an air gunner, he embarked for service in the R.A.F. three and a half years ago.
_______________________________________________
I hope this is of interest to some people here.
