New Zealand Airmen in WWI

[errolmartyn]

Mar 23, 2016 19:37:17 GMT 12 Peter Lewis said:

Re Dave's list, just off the top of my head:

Harkness was the fellow who was killed in the Dornier Libelle when it crashed off Milford beach in Auckland 1929. He was at that time a lecturer at Auckland University.

Yerex founded an airline in South America after spending some time as a stunt pilot in the USA.

Peter, you are correct re Harkness. His family recently published a 562-page bio of him. He was not actually a PoW but an internee in Holland where, as is detailed through his letters in the book, he met a wide range of most interesting people.

Yerex's nephew, journalist and author the late David Yerex who wrote extensively about deer farming, wrote a bio about this amazing man - Yerex of TACA - A Kiwi Conquistador. Yerex with his TACA airline became a legend in Latin America during the 1930s and 1940s where he operated the, or one of the, largest fleets of Ford Trimotors and for a time ran the largest air cargo operation in the world. The battles he had with devious British and American bureaucrats who set out to destroy his enterprise makes running an airline like Air NZ seem like child's play by comparison. Interestingly, he was good friends with Robert Gray who was also involved in the airline industry, in the US, until his untimely death in a flying accident in 1929. Both WWI fighter pilots, they first met in a PoW camp.

Errol

[Dave Homewood]

I see that Robert Gray and his wife were killed in an air crash in 1930, and that he'd served with Keith Caldwell in No. 74 Squadron

New Zealand Herald, 8 January 1930

CRASH IN TEXAS.

NEW ZEALANDER'S DEATH.

AMERICAN WIFE KILLED.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON, Tuesday.
An aeroplane crash in Texas a few days ago caused the death of Mr. Robert Hector Gray, a native of Wellington, who was an air pilot in the war. His wife also was killed in the same accident.

No details of the tragedy are available at present. The only intimation relatives in Wellington had was a cablegram informing them that Mr. and Mrs. Gray had been killed as the result of a crash at Amarillo on December 30.

Mr. Gray, who was educated at Wellington South school, was 38 years of ago. His home was in Britomart Street, Berhampore, and before the war he was employed by Messrs. Joseph Nathan and Company. Leaving there, he went to Auckland, where he enrolled at Walsh Brothers' flying school at Kohimarama. He qualified as a pilot and left for the front.

As a member of the Royal Air Force, Mr. Gray was a fighting pilot in No. 74 Squadron, which was famed for its success, and the leader of which was Major Keith Caldwell, of Auckland. Engine trouble brought Mr. Gray down behind the German lines toward the end of the war and he had to spend the last few months in a prison camp. After the Armistice he returned to New Zealand, but left again in 1922 to engage in civil Aviation in America.

At the time of his death Mr. Gray was assistant manager of tho Texas Air Transport Company, which carries mails between Dallas, Galveston and San Antonio. On June 19, 1929, his mother and sister left to visit him. After their Arrival in San Francisco he met them by aeroplane, and took them to his home about 1000 miles distant. His relatives were to have left on their return to the Dominion on February 5.

Mr. Gray was married in America and had one little son.

[Dave Homewood]

Here is a list of New Zealanders who were RFC Cadets embarking on the troopship Balmoral Castle headed for England as listed in a letter dated 27 April 1918.

New names not previously mentioned in this thread are in bold yellow

Barnes, David
Brown, Winton Byron Pukerua
Checkley, Dallas
Coverdale, H.V.
Craig, Alexander Campbell
Dunlop,William Dunlop
Eliot, G.A.
Field, Lawson Lysnar Copland
Fyfe, Colin Alexander
Goodson, Dawson Trevor
Gordon, C.M.
Gregorie, David George
Harston,
Neville Forsyth
Hazlett, Frank
Knight, John Thomas Lionel
Mackay, Douglas Alexander
Moncreiff, John Robert "Scotty"
Morris, A.D.
Morton, R.R.
Otway, Miles Hastings
Orr, Basil Longmuir
Riddell, Horace Douglas
Russell, J.E.
Sherriff, Lawrence Arthur Page.
Shiel, William Lalor
Sinclair, Ronald James
Smith, George Ashley,
Tapper, Charles John
Webster, Arthur Gordon
Wilson, John Bailie


The list above came from official lists found in the personnel files of Ron Sinclair and William Dunlop, with added research to find as many full names as possible.

[Dave Homewood]

In fact names of New Zealand airmen serving with the Royal Flying Corps not already mentioned on this thread include thee, all of which have a file at the National Archive's Archway site that can be downloaded and read:


Robert Allan Grant - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps

Kelvin Harry Smith - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

William James Montgomery Thomas - WWI 7412, Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force - Air Force

Herbert Simson - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corp

Victor Stephen Henry Abbott - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

W C Tennant - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

J H Sitmers - Second Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Raymond George Goldfinch - Royal Flying Corps

Lloyd Hassell Stewart - - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.184130

William Sinclair MacPherson - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.316548

William Henry Brown - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.316797

G.D. Taylor - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Gregson [first names not recorded] - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

L.R. Wilson - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Edward Laston Pulling DSO - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Gordon Thompson Pettigrew - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Wyndham Waterhouse Fitzherbert - Captain, The Royal Sussex Regiment, attached Royal Flying Corps

Charles Edward Blayney MC - Captain, Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force, No.1942

D J Barnes - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

William Francis Warner - Royal Flying Corps

Henry Hugh Blackwell - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

John Leask Foubister - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Melville Johnstone - Captain, Royal Flying Corps

Trevor Read Bloomfield - Captain, Royal Flying Corps

Thomas Nicoll - Sergeant, Royal Flying Corps, No.19061

J F Bremner - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

C J Hathaway - Air Mechanic, Royal Flying Corps, No.10796

G T Robertson - Flight-Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Robert Hamilton - Corporal, Royal Flying Corps, No.12807

Edgar Thomas Colin Brandon - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Stanley Robert Austin - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps, No.23083

Charles Patrick Todd - Royal Flying Corps

Eric James Orr - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

John Erichsen Stevens - Airman 3rd Class, Royal Flying Corps, No.110889

Melville Arthur White - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

John Edward Histed - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps, No.4232

Clarence James McFadden - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Richard Russell - Captain, Royal Flying Corps, No.23090

Leslie Alfred Limbrick - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.110885

Geoffrey Maidens Walter Cato [AKA Reginald Maidens Cato] - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Thomas James Denton - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps [seconded from the Canterbury Mounted Rifles]

Captain Beaufort [first names unknown] - Royal Flying Corps -

H Campbell DCM - Flight Sergeant, Royal Flying Corps

James Meston Barker [Weston James Barber] - Royal Flying Corps

Frederick James Sharland - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Lyonel Clare Flyans Neill - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.66441

Harold Pettman Dalwood - Cadet [Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.128174

Wesley Neal Spragg - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Frank Hamilton Bullock Webster - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

George Alfred Nicholls - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps, No.117594

Frederick James Livingstone - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Oscar Herbert Druce - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps -

John Spencer Templeton - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.128179

Ronald Ernest Napier - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.175481

John Henry McKendry - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.175478

Errington Edward Castle - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Alex Lawrence Menzies - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Leonard Roy Harris - Cadet, [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.175474

Henry Lancaster Lucena - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.175476 -

John Edward Royds - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.175482

Phil Fowler - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps -

Sydney James - Flight Sergeant, Royal Flying Corps, No.1061


Wilfred Henry Blyth Buckhurst - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps, No.179486

David John Wallace - Royal Flying Corps, No.18206

Oswald Myles Coverdale - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps,

A T Allan - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps

Thomas Kenneth Russell - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.184642

[Dave Homewood]

More names from Archway of NZ WWI Air Force personnel who have files at the National Archives.

Reginald Richard Parsons - Cadet (2nd Lieutenant), Royal Flying Corps

Roland Henry David Hall - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.182594

Daniel George Spence - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps

John Eugene McCarthy - Cadet, [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.184476

Archibald Findlay McArthur - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.182602

Arthur Herbert Keene - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.182598

Francis James Auchmuty Fulton - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.182589

Geoffrey Connor Austin - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.316538

Archibald David Fleming - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.316543

Douglas Huia Dawson - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.316541

James Bell McGill - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.316551

Ian Alexander Nicolson - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps

Owen Bedell Stanford - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.316558

Frederick Beresford Hans Alexander Hamilton - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps

Ivan Edward Rawnsley - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps

Frederick Charles Macdonald - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps

Alan Arthur Boon - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.184126

Albert Charles Parsons - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.179494

Malcolm Lindsay Macbeth - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.316813

George Herbert Christensen - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.316798
View or download digitised record

William Thomas McKeague - Cadet [Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.316804

Charles William Preece - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.316805

John Terrance Tosswill - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps

Norman Alfred Avery - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps

Harold William Dawson - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps; also New Zealand Engineers

William Maxwell Elliott - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.316819

William Thomas Luxton - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.316824

Leslie Myers - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.316827

William George Ross - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.316830

James Ivan Meredith Black - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps, No.316817

Rex Alfred Jackson - Cadet, Royal Flying Corps

H A Cooper - Captain, Royal Flying Corps

Carrick Stewart Paul - Lieutenant, 1st Squadron, Australian Flying Corps

Harold Winstone Butterworth - 2nd Lieutenant, 18th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps

Robert Stanley Brewster - Corporal, Royal Flying Corps, No.140717 - File for

Norman Leslie Brain - Airman 1st Class, Royal Flying Corps, No.17094

L Pitcher - Corporal, 30th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps

George Aubyn Powell - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Gerard James Wilde - Royal Flying Corps [WWI 6/856 - Army (Canterbury Infantry Regiment)]

T T Warnick - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

W F Belmore [W T Belmore?] - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

C Burton - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

A E Haylett - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Albert Holden - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps; also Lance-Corporal, 28th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Artists' Rifles), No.4386

Thomas Francis Northcote - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps; also served in King Edward's Horse (The King's Overseas Dominions Regiment), No.324

A H Reeve - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

D B Brown - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

E F Croll - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

D F Dunlop - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

George Alexander Pearson - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

R A E Vickers - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

J M Warwick - Captain, Royal Flying Corps

H D Williams - Captain, Auckland Mounted Rifles, attached Royal Flying Corps

David Deucher Miller - Corporal, Royal Flying Corps, No.17095

Henry Benge - Acting Corporal, Royal Flying Corps, No.16127

George Edmond Vernon Aimer - Flight Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

Cedric Alfred Hunter - Airman 2nd Class, Royal Flying Corps, No.52890; also New Zealand Expeditionary Force

Herbert Sylvester Raphael MM - No.2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, No.1750

Charles Edward King - Private, Royal Flying Corps, No.53218

Francis Luke Adams - Australian Imperial Force - Air Mechanic, Australian Flying Corps, No.44

Francis Kitto - Australian Imperial Force - Private, Australian Flying Corps, No.1404

Vincent John Parkinson - Australian Imperial Force - 2nd Lieutenant, Australian Flying Corps - Casualty for

Ernest Wilfred Burton - Australian Imperial Force - Lieutenant, Australian Flying Corps - Casualty for

Harry Wilfred Macfarlane - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps, No.179492

Philip Harris Vyner - Australian Imperial Force - Air Mechanic 2nd Class, No.2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, No.1489

Stanley Grant Hay - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps [WWI 35860 - Army]

J A P Edwards - Australian Imperial Force - Lieutenant, Australian Flying Corps

Alfred Victor Barrow - Australian Imperial Force - Lieutenant, Australian Flying Corps

Melville Johnstone - Captain, Royal Flying Corps

E H Garland - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps - Casualty for

Howard Ellis - Lieutenant, The Northumberland Fusiliers/16th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps - Papers for - Prisoner of War, Germany

Arthur Sidney Talbot - 2nd Lieutenant, 48th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps - Casualty for

H M Mathieson [H M Matheson?] - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps - File for

Charles Harold Wilkinson MC - Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery - File for; also awarded the Croix de Guerre [also contains a document for a Lieutenant C Wilkinson, Royal Flying Corps]

Cuthbert Trelawder MacLean - Captain (temporary Lieutenant-Colonel), The Royal Scots Fusiliers and Royal Flying Corps

Robert John Walker - Cadet [2nd Lieutenant], Royal Flying Corps, No.316836

C. C. Clyde - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

J L Bowie - 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps

T Crissold - Royal Flying Corps

Leslie W White - Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps and 3rd Battalion, The Wiltshire Regiment

[Dave Homewood]

May 5, 2016 17:40:38 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

J A P Edwards - Australian Imperial Force - Lieutenant, Australian Flying Corps

May 5, 2016 15:36:26 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Captain Beaufort [first names unknown] - Royal Flying Corps -

We now have full names for these two, thanks to new forum member 'fortress17', thanks!

Captain James Morris BEAUFORT (RFC/RAF)

2/Lt John Alfred Parry EDWARDS (Australian Flying Corps)

[isc]

I met up with W. S. McPherson (late of Wanaka) when I lived in Cromwell in the 1970s. He told of his brief training, then on to operational flying in WW1. WW2 came along and he re enlisted and flew transport aircraft across the Mediterranean. I think the aircraft were Valetas, twin engine biplanes, with a cruising speed of about 90 kts. All these flights were unescorted as they were too slow. isc
ps I have a photo (RNZAF official) taken from a magazine, of him and others with S/L John Bates OC CFS Wigram, and leader RNZAF aerobatic team. The occasion an aircrew graduation parade, and formal dinner addressed by Chief of Air Staff AVM D.E. Jamieson

[Dave Homewood]

The Vickers Valetta was a postwar type.

Maybe a Valentia? The SAAF still had these in service in 1940. Scroll down here
bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.co.nz/2008/01/weekend-wings-4-last-stand-of-biplane.html

[errolmartyn]

Aug 16, 2016 21:14:51 GMT 12 isc said:

I met up with W. S. McPherson (late of Wanaka) when I lived in Cromwell in the 1970s. He told of his brief training, then on to operational flying in WW1. WW2 came along and he re enlisted and flew transport aircraft across the Mediterranean. I think the aircraft were Valetas, twin engine biplanes, with a cruising speed of about 90 kts. All these flights were unescorted as they were too slow. isc
ps I have a photo (RNZAF official) taken from a magazine, of him and others with S/L John Bates OC CFS Wigram, and leader RNZAF aerobatic team. The occasion an aircrew graduation parade, and formal dinner addressed by Chief of Air Staff AVM D.E. Jamieson

Bill Macpherson (note spelling), along with 23 other flying cadets from New Zealand, disembarked from the Ruahine in England on 30 Oct 18 and, thanks to the event of the Armistice, he was discharged on 19 Dec 18 and embarked next day on the Oxfordshire for New Zealand. He undertook no ground training in Britain and the only flying he did was that at Sockburn where he qualified for his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate on 12 Jul 18.

Bill enrolled in the RNZAF Civil Reserve on 25 Aug 39 but was not called upon to serve, so no WWII flying either as far as I'm aware (certainly not as a member of the RNZAF anyway).

Errol

[isc]

Sorry, Bill Macpherson(sorry miss spelt), rejoined with the RAF, and the aircraft were Vickers Valentia. isc

[errolmartyn]

Aug 17, 2016 23:45:32 GMT 12 isc said:

Sorry, Bill Macpherson(sorry miss spelt), rejoined with the RAF, and the aircraft were Vickers Valentia. isc

I'm sorry, but I think it is highly unlikely that Bill saw any RAF service after WWI. On the outbreak of WWII he was aged 41, so definitely not of aircrew age, nor can I find him in the RAF Air Force List. In April 1941 he was still living in Oamaru, according to a newspaper report of the time.

Errol

[isc]

We'll leave it at that, I'm only going on what I was told. isc

[ErrolC]

A fitter with NZ connections popped up in my Twitter feed:

June Jeffreys
‏@nilesjeffreys

My relative Walter W Withey,Airman Mechanic,became RAF. Went to New Zealand 1911,went back to UK 1915 to enlist

Great War London
‏@greatwarlondon Lovely photo. Service record lists as a driver in civilian life & "fitter" in RAF. Married in NZ in 1913.

[errolmartyn]

Aug 20, 2016 17:01:43 GMT 12 ErrolC said:

A fitter with NZ connections popped up in my Twitter feed:

June Jeffreys
‏@nilesjeffreys

My relative Walter W Withey,Airman Mechanic,became RAF. Went to New Zealand 1911,went back to UK 1915 to enlist

NZ40484 William Walter Withey, born 6 July 1914, who enlisted in the RNZAF on 26 January 1940 is probably a son?

Errol

[Dave Homewood]

Auckland Weekly News 10 June 1915 from the Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19150610-48-2.

[Dave Homewood]

Auckland Weekly News 25 November 1915
Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19151125-48-1

[Dave Homewood]

Auckland Weekly News 23 March 1916
Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19160323-50-2

[Dave Homewood]

Auckland Weekly News 22 February 1917
Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19170222-41-4

[Dave Homewood]

Auckland Weekly News 22 November 1917
Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19171122-34-7

[Dave Homewood]

Auckland Weekly News 23 May 1918
Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19180523-35-5