Jet-Age ANZAC's In The Middle East

[Dave Homewood]

Here's an article from the Examiner newspaper, Launceston, Tasmania, dated the 17th of March 1953:

Jet-Age Anzacs Together In The Middle East

From F/Lt. JACK CAMERON in Cyprus 

BENEATH the shadow of Turkey and within two hours jet flying time of Gallipoli, units of the Australian and New Zealand air forces have been working in close association throughout January and early February.

THE airmen are from No. 78 (Fighter) Wing of the R.A.A.F., and No. 14 Squadron of the R.N.Z.A.F. two jet fighter outfits that represent the "Down Under" dominions in the strategically important R.A.F. Middle East Command.

Last year, when plans were drafted to send R.A.A.F. and R.N.Z.A.F. personnel to the Middle East, it was thought that No. 14 Squadron might link up with the R.A.A.F.'s No. 75 and No. 76 squadrons to form a Commonwealth fighter wing in the area. However, the two Australian squadrons and their ground staff squadrons went to Malta, and Cyprus was named as the base for the New Zealanders,

Flew to Destination
The New Zealanders did not arrive in Cyprus until the Australians had been settled down in Malta for three months. Unlike the Australians, the New Zealand boys did not travel to their destination by ship but were transported by their own Hastings aircraft. 

The New Zealand squadron, which has the same role in the Middle East as No. 78 Wing, is the only fighter outfit of the R.N.Z.A.F. serving abroad at present. It is one of the two regular fighter squadrons of the R.N.Z.A.F. although there are a number of part-time squadrons attached to the New Zealand Air Force.

In many ways the squadron has a similar background to the R.A.A.F.'s No. 75 and No. 76 squadrons. It was formed in 1942 and, like the R.A.A.F. outfits, its pilots flew Kittyhawk fighters against the Japanese in the Pacific War. One strange feature of the No. 14 Squadron's history, in view of its present location, is that it was formed on April 25 - the day set aside by people in all parts of the world to remember the mighty deeds of the New Zealanders and their Australian comrades, who made the name ANZAC synonymous with lighting toughness around these parts in 1915.

Another unusual feature of the Kiwi squadron is that it is the first New Zealand flying unit ever to operate in the Middle East. This fact seems strange when we remember that New Zealand forces fought in almost every Middle East battle during the Second World War.

No. 14 Squadron's present link with the R.A.A.F. is not the first in the unit's history. The outfit started its wartime operations at
Espíritu Santo, in the South Pacific and later moved to Guadalcanal, Rabaul, Bougainville and Emirau areas, where it operated with R.A.A.F. Kittyhawk squadrons. The squadron also came into contact with the R.A.A.F. when it represented New Zealand in the British Occupation Force, which moved into Japan at the end of hostilities in the Pacific.

But not many of the New Zealanders in Cyprus at present have had much to do with the R.A.A.F. before. Most of them are young fellows who only joined up in the last couple of years.

No Barrier
However, age or past relationship has never been a barrier to the comradeship which springs up naturally between the Australians and their cousins from across the Tasman Sea. Like Australian servicemen of two wars, the men of No. 78 Wing have discovered that the only real difference between themselves and the "Newsies" is in the design of their uniforms. In the messes, on the airfield, in the hangars, or on leave the "Aussies" and the "Kiwis" think the same, drink the same and even talk the same. For a time it was strange to hear men from another country saying "my oath," "bonzer," "too right" and calling one another "cobber" or "sport.'

New Zealanders Are Younger
MAIN difference between the two units is seen in the pilots. The New Zealand aviators are much younger than their Australian counterpart and age is easy to detect in the faces of fighter men.  The average age of the 14 New Zealand pilots is only 23, while the Australian average would be close to 28. But it is easy to account for this difference because most of the young R.A.A.F. pilots go to Korea soon after they graduate and only the battle-tested flyers have come abroad with No. 78 Wing.

Alongside the R.A.A.F. pilots, the New Zealand flyers look like boys. Even those who have grown "birdman" moustaches look comparatively young because they have no lines of flying time etched round the corners of their eyes. 

In many ways the "Enzeders" are envied by the R.A.A.F. men because their station at Nicosia is far more picturesque than No. 78 Wing's rockbound airfield at Hal Far, Malta.  Hundreds of trees grow round the camp, including many eucalyptus gums, and the sight of these is almost a luxury to the Australians, who rarely see more than one or two trees a day in Malta.

But partly compensating for the better environment of Nicosia is the fact that the R.A.A.F. men can take their families to Malta, a privilege not yet granted to No. 14 Squadron personnel.

Before the R.A.A.F. wing leaves Cyprus at the end of the armament course its Vampire fighters, with their Kangaroo insignia, will join the squadron of New Zealand-emblemed Vampires in a ceremonial fly past over Cyprus. This will be the first of a number of joint formation flights because both outfits are likely to work together in Middle East air exercises during the coming year.

In these days the atmosphere round the Middle East is very tense and the R.A.F. has an unenviable task as watchdog over many "trigger happy" nations. The top officers of the command must be happy to have Australian and New Zealand squadrons on their strength, because in these parts the people know from experience that the word ANZAC has more significance than a nickname.

[davidd]

The assertion that 14 Sqdn RNZAF flew jointly with RAAF Kittyhawk squadrons at any of the named locations is not correct. However 14 might well have flown with an RAAF Boomerang squadron (No. 5) from the Piva complex (Bougainville) in the April - May 1945 period. However 14 Sqdn never operated from Rabaul, although it certainly flew over that area often enough. Nevertheless, this is nice little article on this barely remembered chapter of the RNZAF's (and RAAF's) joint history.
David D

[Dave Homewood]

Agreed on the Rabaul statement, I am sure the Japanese would not have been too happy to have ANZAC squadrons operating from the Rabaul airfields, haha.

I had also wondered about RAAF Kittyhawks operating alongside our fighters and meant to look into that, but you've cleared that up nicely, thank you.

[Dave Homewood]

This one from the Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld.) Thu 1 Apr 1954

ANZAC AIRMEN WILL CHEER QUEEN IN MALTA
(By Flight Lieutenant Jack Cannon. Public Relations Officer. No. 78 Wing, R.A.A.F.)

Four weeks after Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh have sailed away from Australasian waters, a group of 500 Australians and
New Zealanders will be cheering a welcome to the Royal couple. The cheerers will be members of the R.A.A.F's. No. 78 Fighter Wing and their families, and a detachment of 90 pilots and airmen from the R.N.Z.A.F's. No. 14 Squadron.

The New Zealanders, who are flying from their Cyprus base this month, wilt be with their R.A.A.F. colleagues when the sleek, blue Royal Yacht Britannia glides into historic Grand Harbour with its Royal passengera on May 3.

Next day, representatives of both Dominion units will take part in the most important ceremony of the Queen's brief Malta sojourn - the unveiling of a memorial to commemorate 2301 R.A.F. and Commonwealth airmen who were lost and never traced during air operations in the Mediterranean theatre of the last war.

On this solemn occasion, the Dominion airmen will pay homage to 211 Austrailans and 85 New Zealanders who disappeared in air operations over Malta, Gibraltar, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, Sicily, Italy, Yugoslavia, and Austria between 1939 and 1945.

On April 25, 10 days before the Queen's arrival, No. 78 Wing and the New Zealand detachment will parade in full strength at the Malta War Memorial, near the site of the new R.A.F. Monument, to remember the original Anzacs. Older Maltese remember the wounded "Diggers" and 'Enzeders" who came here in hospital ships after the 1915 Gallipoli campaign. Many of those original Anzacs spent weeks in Maltese hospitals.

One of the Diggers, who came here straight from Gallipoli In 1915 recently returned to Malta and visited the Blue Sisters' Hospital, where he had been nursed back to health. He is Sir Leslie Boyce, a Sydneysider. who achieved the distinction of being the first Australian to become the Lord Mayor of London.

APRIL 25 PILGRIMAGE
It was in memory of the original Anzacs that the Maltese Anzac Memorial Committee was founded soon after the First World War. Since then the annual pilgrimage to the War Memorial has been, held every April 25, and usually there has been at least one Australian or New Zealander present to provide the Anzac atmosphere. The committee is still very active, led by the Honourable Mabel Strickland and Mr. A. H. Sapienza, two Maltese citizens with strong Australian connections. Last year they organised an impressive ceremony with No. 78 Wing and members of the Australian and New Zealand Coronation contingents.

This year, with so many New Zealanders on the island, the Anzac service will be more representative than any year since its inauguration. Although only the older generation Maltese remember the original Anzacs, nearly everybody on the island has vivid recollections of the young Australian and New Zealand airmen, who, with the Canadians, South Africans, and hundreds of R.A.F. boys, successfully defended Malta against German and Italian aerial onslaughts in the last war.

NEW MEMORIAL
It is to some of these men - the 2301 without known graves - that Queen Elizabeth will dedicate the new. R.A.F. Memorial. The monument, which will stand just outside the fortress gates of Valetta, is to be in the form of a 50ft. high, traventine marble column. surmounted by a 7ft. 9in. gilded bronze eagle. Names of the 2301 missing airmen will be listed on bronze panels at the base of the column. Above the names will be a Latin inscription. which freely translated reads, "By this monument, a steadfast island commemorates steadfast men."

At the two ceremonies, it is fitting that Australian and New Zealand representation will be provided by the two most closely linked major units of the Southern Dominions.

No. 78 Wing R.A.A,F. and No. 14 Squadron R.N.Z.A.F. were chosen at the same time by their nations to play the same important role in the R.A.F.'s Middle East Command. One of their tasks was to alleviate the pressure being exerted on the R.A.F. in the Mediterranean area during the Sues Canal crisis.

No. 78 and No. 14 were the first service detachments ever to leave Australia or New Zealand on peacetime duties overseas. On arrival in the Mediterranean No. 78 Wing at Malta on the extreme west of the M.E.A.P. Command, and No. 14 Squadron in Cyprus on the east - the two units were given the same kind of Mark IX Vampire aircraft and the same type of assignment.

The first direct contact between the R.A.A.F. Wing and the Kiwi Squadron came in January last year, when No. 78 Wing sent a big detachment of pilots and ground staff to Cyprus for the annual air armament camp and gunnery assessment.

STRONG FRIENDSHIP
A great friendship developed immediately among the pilots and ground staffs of the "Down Under" Air Forces, bringing with it a strong professional rivalry. Whatever men of any mustering came into contact with their opposite numbers from the RA.A.F. or Kiwi brigade, they turned on an extra effort to show the efficiency of their own outfit.

In August last year, the Kiwi Squadron came to Malta to assist No. 78 Wing in providing jet fighter protection for the island in "Defence Exercise Malta," an air operation designed to test the efficiency of local defences. The two R.A.A.F. Squadrons, Nos. 75 and 76 and No. 14 Squadron R.N.Z.A.F., worked as independent forces, but shared the same tasks, arranging to work in alternate fights of four aircraft from the scrambling point. A stranger, who might have visited Takali airfield during the hectic exercise, would have had an impossible task in trying to distinguish the Australian pilots from the New Zealanders as they stepped from their still-hot Vampires after each sortie. The men wore the same kind of flying suits, they all spoke with the same accent, used the same slang; their build, facial colouring, and features were all similar.

Only when the Australians put on their blue caps and the Kiwis their grey ones, was it possible to tell the nationality of the khaki-clad flyers. Before the Queen's visit, the 90 pilots and ground staff of No. 14 Squadron will spend several weeks in Malta working with the R.A.A.F. Wing, in a series of local and N.A.T.O. air exercises and Naval co-operation training flights with elements of the Mediterranean Fleet.

Soon after the New Zealanders leave Malta they will be hosts to a detachment of Australians at their Nicosia base, when the R.A.A.F. Wing will be returning to Cyprus for this year's armament camp. That visit is likely to be the last reunion of the closely linked "cousin units" before their present personnel finish their tours of overseas duty.

Members of both outfits will be watching the Australians' gunnery results to see how they compare with those registered in this year's camp by the Kiwis. A final comparison of result in this important aspect of fighter work may then entitle either the R.A.A.F. pilots or the Kiwis to have some foundation for their mutual claim of '"anything you can do, we can do better."

[Dave Homewood]

That NATO exercise mentioned above was of interest, and here's more, from the Cootamundra Herald (NSW) Fri 2 Apr 1954

NATO EXERCISE

Australian, and New Zealand Fighter Squadrons will work as combined force from Malta in a major NATO Exercise later this month. The Australians will
be from No. 78 (Fighter) Wing, and the New Zealanders will be the detachment from No. 14 RNZAF Squadron from Cyprus. The RNZAF detachment consists of twenty pilots and ground staff men.

The NATO exercise in which the Anzac squadrons will operate is called 'Shield One'.' and it will be conducted by Lieutenant-General David M. Schlatter, Commander of the Allied Air Forces in Admiral W. M. Fechtler's Southern Europe Command.

The RAAF and RNZAF Squadrons will provide the main jet fighter defence of Malta, Gozo and surrounding areas. Other air forces taking part include elements of the RAF, USAF. French, Italian, Greek, and Turkish Air Forces. The exercise will be the largest and most important war game to be held in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe this Spring. It is to be based on the simultaneous activation of all air defence systems in the Mediterranean area, and will provide all commands with an opportunity to exercise their forces in the defence of their respective areas and in coordination with other air forces.

During 'Shield One' all national units will be operated as part of an international air defence system, coordinated by General Schlatter's
headquarters in Naples. The role of the enemy will be played by heavy bombers of RAF Bomber Command - in Britain; and the USAF Strategic Bomber
Force from Britain, Germany and North Africa. These bombers will carry out round the clock raids on all targets in the Mediterranean.

The US Navy Sixth Fleet operating in the Mediterranean will also form part of the enemy force, and high and low level jet attacks will be flown by Navy Panther and Banshee Fighters against all airfields in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe.

A major naval exercise, to be known as 'Medflex Able' will be run concurrently with the air exercise. It will be controlled by Lord Mountbatten of Burma.

[mcmaster]

Interesting bit of history that. I notice too the ADF serials site has some pics of the Maltese based Vampires. Would be nice to see a similar arrangement in the future.