NZPAF Gloster Grebe - Question

[hairy]

A wee while ago I bought this photo, as per my avatar............


On the back it is marked (hand written) "Gloster Grebe II - NZPAF", now what I would like to know is...............

The colour scheme does not match other photos I have seen of NZ Grebes, could this be the colour scheme that one of them arrived in (the hills in the background do not look British to me but could be possibly Rongotai), or is it not in NZ at all?

Regardless of the above question, ain't it a luvverly pic. Even if it isn't NZPAF I will still like it.

[Bruce]

Certainly a lovely pic of a lovely aeroplane. I would say that yes, it is an RNZAF Grebe, but very late in the types service. The markings on the fuselage side are virtually the same as the RNZAF museum's Avro 626 - the markings on the avro are "A3" with a red surround (often mistaken for a "1") and this grebe appears to be A5. The markings correspond to "A flight" at Wigram sometime from 1937 on. "Aircraft of the RNZAF" (Duxford, Ewing, MacPherson) has a picture of a B Flight Vildebeeste on page 50, and I am aware of Oxfords wearing the Wigram flight colours as well. (B flight had blue trim around the fuselage codes). That would most likely make the hills in the background the Port Hills of Christchurch - which seems to look about right. A similar angle on the Port Hills appears in the previously mentioned Vildebeeste photo.
Definitely an interesting picture, most pics of the Grebes I have seen are in the RAF Silver and Black, so its a bit different to see one in the colourful Wigram flight markings.