No 6 Squadron (RNZAF)

[steve]

Not sure if already mentioned on this board ...No 6 squadron was refomed on the 31 October to take over the duties of the Naval Support Flight. The new commander apparently will report directly to the o/c
485 Wing...(whats 485 wing??)

[Calum]

Whats the reasoning behind No 6 sqn?.

[Dave Homewood]

No 6 Squadron was always a maritime squadron, and as the recent changes within the structure of the RNZAF have seen Naval Support Flight of No. 3 Sqn seperated from the parent unit (both used to be in Hobsonville, now NSF at Whenuapai and 3 Sqn at Ohakea).

So basically they have reformed No. 6 (Maritime) Squadron around the Seasprites. I think it's a great idea, bringing a piece of history back from the dead and giving the guys of the former NSF a bit more profile. I joined the RNZAF with the OC 6 Sqn back in the day. He tipped me the wink to this change some months back.

No. 6 Squadron had a proud history as both a Catalina Squadron at war in Fiji and the Solomons (Halavo Bay, etc) and later as a Sunderland sqn - both regular force and territorial. Great to hear it is back on charge.

Now, can we bring back No.s 1, 2 and 4 Sqns please?

485 Wing? Rings a bell but I think it used to be the Strike Wing. Well, the Orions and Iroquois and Seasprites have strike capability... nah, I'm not sure. Will try to find out.

[steve]

My infromation comes from todays army news under joint services etc...Is a flight wing 3 or more squadrons under the command of a wing commander? I really did not associate an air wing with NZ however i often read about aussie air wings...not sure?

[Dave Homewood]

A wing on the operational side is usually three squadrons but it can differ.

For example when I served at Whenuapai I came under the umbrella of Technical Wing, but I don't recall designated squadrons within that. It's really a number of men in the establishment.

In the RNZAF it goes from smallest to biggest as such:
- Squad (on parade) or Unit as Establishment
- Flight (RNZAF equiv of Platoon)
- Squadron
- Wing (usually three squadrons, sometimes more, sometimes less)
- Group (usually two or more Wings)

There are things like Admin Wing, Tech Wing, Supply Wing, etc. They're just an establishment size. At Wigram where baseside was smaller we had Tech Squadron, Admin Squadron, etc.And we came under Training Wing from memory.

Also, it is not always the case that the rank fits the establishment. Usual thing is a Group Captain is in charge of a Group, Wing Commander a Wing, Sqn Ldr a Sqn, etc. But this also differs. The nightfighter sqns in WWII changed so that each squadron had two Sqn Ldrs as Flight Commanders and a Wing Commander as Sqn CO. See what I mean. It's all confusing but makes sense if you're threre every day.

In the RNZAF Group Captains are usually Base Commanders unless they work in the political side in Wellington.So nowadays they're thin on the ground.

[steve]

thanks for that...the airforce admin side of things is an aspect that i have not studied much

[Calum]

Allot of the time the Sqn's I worked on when I was in (14, 2 and 75) had wing commanders as CO's

[Dave Homewood]

Yep, that's another example of the flexability in the system.

How about the schools? I trained at 1TTS which was very small, and had a Sqn Ldr in charge (Sqn Ldr Ronalds, later in charge of Tech Sqn at Wigram).

I think 4TTS was also under a Sqn Ldr from memory when I was there despite being a lot bigger, and I am sure little old 3TTS would have been under a Sqn Ldr too. But what about 2TTS?

Do you AvGeeks remember? That place had a huge establishment by comparison so I wonder if it had a Wing Commander in overall charge?

[Calum]

admin said:

Yep, that's another example of the flexability in the system.

How about the schools? I trained at 1TTS which was very small, and had a Sqn Ldr in charge (Sqn Ldr Ronalds, later in charge of Tech Sqn at Wigram).

I think 4TTS was also under a Sqn Ldr from memory when I was there despite being a lot bigger, and I am sure little old 3TTS would have been under a Sqn Ldr too. But what about 2TTS?

Do you AvGeeks remember? That place had a huge establishment by comparison so I wonder if it had a Wing Commander in overall charge?

Actually 2TTS was small, We had a SQn Ldr. 4TTS was large because of BAssic engineering but 3TTS (where all the non techos went) was probably the biggest.

[Dave Homewood]

Really? While I was at Wigram, 2TTS seemed much larger than 3TTS in terms of students and staff.

I never had much to do with the schools on work side but I had a lot of mates at the schools over the years when I was there and there seemed to be hundreds of trainee Avionics guys all the time.

I remember 2TTS had two 3-storey barrack blocks (Trigg and Trent) where 3TTS had some of Ward (and obviously a lot were in the WAAFery too.) The impression I got was 4TTS was big but 2TTS was as big if not bigger.

Amazing how things can look different from the outside I guess.

[Calum]

admin said:

Really? While I was at Wigram, 2TTS seemed much larger than 3TTS in terms of students and staff.

I never had much to do with the schools on work side but I had a lot of mates at the schools over the years when I was there and there seemed to be hundreds of trainee Avionics guys all the time.

I remember 2TTS had two 3-storey barrack blocks (Trigg and Trent) where 3TTS had some of Ward (and obviously a lot were in the WAAFery too.) The impression I got was 4TTS was big but 2TTS was as big if not bigger.

Amazing how things can look different from the outside I guess.

Intersting, When I was there for mechs we lived in an old H block opposite the baggies club, then we moved in Ward Block, baseside people lived in Trigg and Trent IIRC. A nd B block weren't built then

On techs course we lived in Ward block, baseside peole lived in A and B Block and 3TTS (again IIRC) had Trigg and Trent.

Whats at wigram know? are Trigg, Trent and Ward still there? The story I heard about when they were built was that they were built 1/2 scale as hte rooms were tiny. Still they weren't to bad and were certainily better than the barracks we lived in in Nowra when posted here.

[Dave Homewood]

When I lived at Wigram (May 91-Aug 93) basesiders lived in A and B blocks, the best barracks in the RNZAF. The Schools used T,T and W blocks, and the H Blocks were mostly empty, as transit. The only people i saw use them were snotgobblers in the school holidays.

Yes, T,T and W were clausterphobic, I visited several mates when they lived there. I certainly wouldn't have liked to live there long term. A and B were much better in every respect.

Trigg, Trent, Ward, Frances Briars and the awesome and historic No. 2 Officers Mess (which some officxer mates used to sometimes sneak me into for a drink!) have all been demolished by the tribe that owns the land. A terrible waste.

A and B Blocks were turned into doss houses for down and outers!! There was a murder there around 1996. A total disgrace, all of the blocks were in great condition when the RNZAF left, and could have made very good accommodation for a hostel or even turned into fairly good hotel accommodation. No. 1 O's Mess is now accom for the university I'm told, who also have the gym and a few other facilities. When I was there in Feb 04 the gym was in a shocking state, covered in green mildue, not like the days when the military and MoW/Serco looked after facilities.

I just rememebred too that in 1993 there were so many people at 2TTS that Trigg and Trent were full and mechs courses were spilled over into Frances Briars. There were dozens o guys living in the Waafery! I recall going there for a party with some of them and finding it an interesting position going into what was previously out of bounds (odd when both genders lived together in A and B blocks, the first RNZAF accomodation to have mixed sexes I believe.)

[Phil]

485 wing looks after the operational side of the RNZAF and reports to HQJFNZ at Trentham.

This is distinct from Log wing (the old tech wing), and each base has an Air Base Wing (admin medical, PTIs, Fire, Ops etc) which is overseen by a WGCDR known as CO ABW - which is the fancy new term for Base Commander. Yep you heard right, BCs are now WGCDRs.

GTW (all the old TTSs now combined at WB) has a WCDR in charge.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Phil. So realistically how many Gp Capt's are left? Bugger all?

[phil]

Doubt it, we have dozens I think. I could check on the Manning website tomorrow. They all hide down in Wgtn, or overseas as Defence attaches. Can never have too many Officers apparently.