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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 11, 2006 15:03:41 GMT 12
Apart from the planes 'Britannia" and "Nottingham" that NZ was gifted in 1913/14, which were gifted back to the UK when WWI broke out, according to Wingspread by Leo White, NZ'ers also raised money to present six more gift aircraft.
Does anyone know what the types were? And did they have presentation names? I wonder if anyone knows where they went - squadrons, battlefelds, etc.
One other query, Britannia was sent to Mesopotamia (Iraq) and according to White's book "performed valiant duties in the service of the Empire."
Does anyone know what became of it? Which squaron did it go to? What action did Britannia see? Was she in an Indian squadron like many of our pilots sent there? I wonder if any Kiwis flew her in action?
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Post by shorty on Dec 6, 2008 18:44:17 GMT 12
Sorry for the delay in answering your query Dave but what I have been able to find out (which isn't much)
Under the auspices of the "Overseas Club" a total of six aircraft were given and marked.
These were
1 Henri Farman biplane. Presented by the Poverty Bay district
2 Type not known. Named "Maori". presented by the Union Steamship Co. Ltd.
2 Vickers biplane. Named "Auckland". Presented by the Auckland district.
4 Type not known. Believed to have been presented by Otago province.
5 Airco DH 5 B 378. Named "Christchurch Overseas Club"
6 Type not known. Presented by Mr E R Jackson, Wanganui.
In 1921 a specially embroidered flag was presented to the Prime Minister, Mr Massey, as a rememberence of the of the presentation of the Imperial Gift Aift Aircraft . This was displayed for many years in the original Officers mess at Wigram, at least until 1938.
Anyone know anything about this? Was this to do with the aircraft mentioned or was to do with the aircraft we received?
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Post by Poohbah on Dec 6, 2008 20:12:18 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 7, 2008 20:05:20 GMT 12
Thanks guys. That is some interesting information, it might make someone a good modelling project.
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shane
Squadron Leader
Posts: 117
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Post by shane on Dec 9, 2008 7:50:53 GMT 12
Hi guys
No 3 type was a Vickers Gunbus presented by the Auckland provincial aeroplane committee
No 4 type was an Re 8 (A3070) presented by the people of Otago and called Otago ( Known as Harry tate by the RFC)
Hope this helps
Shane
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Post by shorty on Dec 10, 2008 11:37:17 GMT 12
So it's only the Uniopn Steamship "Maori" to identify then.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 10, 2008 17:42:57 GMT 12
Did the late Henry Boot include WWI aircraft in his book on presentation aircraft or were they just WWII aeroplanes he focussed on? I've never seen the book but he helped me directly by email with some data just before he passed away.
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Post by lumpy on Dec 10, 2008 19:43:34 GMT 12
'' The History of New Zealand Avation '' says that the donation by Union Steamship of an aircraft TO BE named '' Maori '' was met with some controversy at the time . It says a cheque was eventually forwarded to England , but no mention of wether an aircraft was actually purchased , or what type it was . ( ie money was donated for the purchase of an aircraft in England )
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 3, 2018 0:25:40 GMT 12
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Post by gustav10 on Dec 3, 2018 10:32:18 GMT 12
I would suggest the publication "Cross & Cockade (Great Britain) Vol 14 No 2 (if you can find one) which shows two RE8 aircraft were allocated the name Nottingham, these being B6504-crashed & written off 31 March 1918 with 59 Sqdn RFC. The second was RE8 D6797 with 9 Sqdn RAF. Still in RAF service January 1919.
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Post by errolmartyn on Dec 3, 2018 11:06:30 GMT 12
The Air Force Museum of New Zealand holds a copy of the commemorative booklet that was published in connection with the christening and presentation of the Nottingham on 27 October 1917.
The souvenir flag mention earlier in this thread is also held by the Museum. This was presented in London by the Imperial Air Fleet Committee to the Rt Hon. W. F. Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand, on 23 August 1921, to commemorate the presentation to New Zealand of the aeroplanes Britannia (in 1913) and Nottingham (1917).
Photos of both of the above items appear in my Swift to the Sky on pages 53 and 18 respectively. In the book I also wrote briefly about presentation aircraft as follows:
One of the most remarkable individual civilian contributions to the war eff ort was that of fervent Imperial patriot Alma Baker. Born in Otago in 1857, Baker settled in Malaya and made his fortune there in surveying and mining and as a rubber planter (as well as from other investments elsewhere). In early 1915, he set up the Malayan Air Squadrons’ Fund and the Australian Air Squadrons’ Fund, which resulted in a staggering 94 aircraft being presented to the RFC and AFC. Baker personally paid for four of the Malayan machines and covered all the organising expenses of the campaign. The story is told in a handsome, privately circulated, handcrafted volume edited by Baker and entitled Souvenir of Ninety-Four Gift Battleplanes Which Helped us to Victory, August 4th, 1914 to November 11th, 1918.
Campaigns were also run in New Zealand, resulting in the presentation of a total of eight machines by various organisations, with another, The ANZAC, being presented by members of the Overseas Club of Australia and New Zealand. Meanwhile, in Britain in 1917, the Nottingham Chamber of Commerce, through the Imperial Air Fleet Committee (of Britannia distinction), donated a Royal Aircraft Factory RE8 biplane ‘to New Zealand’.
The aircraft was christened Nottingham on 27 October at an official function in Nottingham attended by a crowd of 40,000. During the ceremony, a bronze mascot bearing a representation of a kiwi, together with the New Zealand motto ‘Onward’ and the motto of the Imperial Air Fleet, ‘Heaven’s light our guide’, was attached to the side of the fuselage, and a number of New Zealand flags were presented to various dignitaries. Strangely, however, the large offcial party lacked even one New Zealand airman.
Nottingham never came to New Zealand but operated on the Western Front for the next five months. Damaged beyond repair, it was replaced, as was common practice with most presentation machines that were written off (the name Britannia eventually appeared on eight different aircraft of four different types). In this instance, the name Nottingham was transferred to another RE8, which survived until January 1919, after which its fate is unknown.
(An account of the 1913 presentation of the Bleriot Britannia appears on pages 18-19 of the same book).
Errol
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 3, 2018 11:51:06 GMT 12
Excellent, thanks chaps. It would be great to see Nottingham resurrected by TVAL someday complete with that bronze mascot.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Dec 4, 2018 8:57:11 GMT 12
Of course, without denigrating the patriotism of the people involved, donating an aircraft was just really a PR exercise.
As all the aircraft factories were already running at full capacity, no extra aircraft was actually produced.
The only real-world result was that the Government's loan bill to pay for it all at the end of the conflict would have been reduced by the amount of the donated money.
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