Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 22, 2006 0:01:37 GMT 12
I know that in the 1930's the RAF ran a campaign in NZ to recruit Kiwis to join the RAF. They took around 600 New Zealanders, and some of them, Len Trent VC DFC included, trained a little here in NZ before he went to the UK.
Yesterday I took the time to actually read an old advert in a copy of NZ Wings magazine from June-July 1972. Headed up "A CAREER IN THE RAF" above a photo of a Harrier, the advert was basically doing the same thing.
They were looking for Kiwis to join the RAF as pilots. Interestingly it states:
"Under the Dircet Entry Scheme you could be flying solo in a jet aircraft in the United Kingdom within five months after basic training in New Zealand."
There's a lot of other guff there too, like age restrictions and you had to be single. But the basic training in NZ is what caught my eye.
Was this actual Basic Training only, like GSTS drill square bashing... or is it basic flyig training?
And was this NZ training done by the RNZAF? Or was there a flying school doing it under contract? Did the RAF have a branch here to do their own training?
The man you had to write away to was Senior Royal Air Force Liaison Officer, British Defence Liaison Staff, Wellington.
Does the RAF still actively recruit in NZ? Have they always done this or was there a gap after the war (the RAF must have been overflowing with pilots after the war).
Yesterday I took the time to actually read an old advert in a copy of NZ Wings magazine from June-July 1972. Headed up "A CAREER IN THE RAF" above a photo of a Harrier, the advert was basically doing the same thing.
They were looking for Kiwis to join the RAF as pilots. Interestingly it states:
"Under the Dircet Entry Scheme you could be flying solo in a jet aircraft in the United Kingdom within five months after basic training in New Zealand."
There's a lot of other guff there too, like age restrictions and you had to be single. But the basic training in NZ is what caught my eye.
Was this actual Basic Training only, like GSTS drill square bashing... or is it basic flyig training?
And was this NZ training done by the RNZAF? Or was there a flying school doing it under contract? Did the RAF have a branch here to do their own training?
The man you had to write away to was Senior Royal Air Force Liaison Officer, British Defence Liaison Staff, Wellington.
Does the RAF still actively recruit in NZ? Have they always done this or was there a gap after the war (the RAF must have been overflowing with pilots after the war).
