Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 23, 2020 12:35:35 GMT 12
Jude Dobson explores history of military flight in New Zealand's Air Force: Then & Now
Peter Eley
07:00, Apr 23 2020
Writing an article in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis about Jude Dobson's documentary on the Royal New Zealand Air Force was sobering.
One figure from World War II archives hit home: Out of 6000 New Zealanders who volunteered to serve in the RAF's Bomber Command, 1850 were killed. That's 30 per cent who never came home to their family or the farm.
Over the whole of Bomber Command, 60 per cent of 125,000 air crew were either killed, injured, often severely, or became prisoners of war.
Producer Jude Dobson with WW2 Spitfire pilot Maurice Mayston and his son Richard.
In New Zealand's Air Force: Then & Now, Dobson interviews pilots and air crew from that period, including New Zealand's oldest living man, Ron Herman, who still lives in his own home in Christchurch.
"I would love people to look at these men and view them in a different light. It was extraordinary what they did. They just got up day after day and kept going," says Dobson.
Dobson interviews 102-year-old Philip Stewart, who like Ron Herman, still lives in his own home, which is in Amberley.
"He was a Spitfire pilot, and the thing about these chaps is, they don't say a lot. I'd done my research and I said (to Philip) 'I believe you're a member of the Caterpillar Club?' (A little gold badge given to pilots who'd used a parachute, because they were made of silk).
"And he said, 'I've also got a Goldfish Club badge', so I said 'What's that one for? He said, 'That's if you end up in the drink and you have to use a dinghy.' I joked that it was a bit like the Scouts."
Jude Dobson and some of the pilots featured in New Zealand Air Force: Then & Now
Dobson has a very personal connection to the RNZAF. Her father was in the Territorial Air Force after the war and was due to take up a combat role on the actual day the war against Japan ended.
And her husband Graeme was a fighter pilot flying Skyhawks at Ohakea, once being on three-day standby in the 90s for the Gulf War. "Yeah, I just like went, okay… I lived on base for three years, and we did that Top Gun thing. I was doing Sale Of The Century at the time so I'd just drive down to Wellington for filming."
That connection with the RNZAF was renewed last year when a family friend's son graduated from the pilot school. "We went down to the graduation and I thought that people don't know what the air force do and what they're like, so that's when I realised, 'Ah, there's a story here'."
Dobson says New Zealand pilots tend to be well regarded internationally. "What I really gathered is that foremost it's the quality of the individuals and it does come down to that New Zealand mentality that we live in a small country and we don't rely too much on other people.
"And our air force pilots have always been really well trained and again, that's because we're small. Overseas, you might have six or seven squadrons with a different function, but here one squadron will do all those functions.
"Here, you have everyone under one roof. If there's a problem, they actually get people in the room and solve it. The smallness is actually an advantage."
New Zealand's Air Force: Then & Now is the latest project for Dobson, a long-time TV personality who now runs her own production company.
Jack Wakefield (pictured with producer Jude Dobson) was a Wellington Bomber gunner with No. 75 Squadron (NZ) in WW2.
She grew up in the Auckland suburb of Mangere Bridge, and in 1988, placed fourth in the Miss Universe New Zealand pageant, won by Lana Coc-Kroft. A year later her TV career began, joining Steve Parr on Sale Of The Century. After that she fronted a string of lifestyle shows, notably 5.30 With Jude, while raising her three children.
She's not seen in front of the camera so much these days, so does she prefer background roles?
"Nobody's offered a job on screen for a long time," Dobson, now 53, says with a laugh.
"But I find that the easy bit. Producing and directing takes a lot more work. I like to do something top to tail – I write, research and find the whole thing and pull it out the other end.
"I enjoy it, but I'm pretty exhausted by it now, to be fair."
New Zealand's Air Force: Then & Now, Prime, Saturday April 25
www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/tv-guide/121001654/jude-dobson-explores-history-of-military-flight-in-new-zealands-air-force-then--now
Peter Eley
07:00, Apr 23 2020
Writing an article in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis about Jude Dobson's documentary on the Royal New Zealand Air Force was sobering.
One figure from World War II archives hit home: Out of 6000 New Zealanders who volunteered to serve in the RAF's Bomber Command, 1850 were killed. That's 30 per cent who never came home to their family or the farm.
Over the whole of Bomber Command, 60 per cent of 125,000 air crew were either killed, injured, often severely, or became prisoners of war.
Producer Jude Dobson with WW2 Spitfire pilot Maurice Mayston and his son Richard.
In New Zealand's Air Force: Then & Now, Dobson interviews pilots and air crew from that period, including New Zealand's oldest living man, Ron Herman, who still lives in his own home in Christchurch.
"I would love people to look at these men and view them in a different light. It was extraordinary what they did. They just got up day after day and kept going," says Dobson.
Dobson interviews 102-year-old Philip Stewart, who like Ron Herman, still lives in his own home, which is in Amberley.
"He was a Spitfire pilot, and the thing about these chaps is, they don't say a lot. I'd done my research and I said (to Philip) 'I believe you're a member of the Caterpillar Club?' (A little gold badge given to pilots who'd used a parachute, because they were made of silk).
"And he said, 'I've also got a Goldfish Club badge', so I said 'What's that one for? He said, 'That's if you end up in the drink and you have to use a dinghy.' I joked that it was a bit like the Scouts."
Jude Dobson and some of the pilots featured in New Zealand Air Force: Then & Now
Dobson has a very personal connection to the RNZAF. Her father was in the Territorial Air Force after the war and was due to take up a combat role on the actual day the war against Japan ended.
And her husband Graeme was a fighter pilot flying Skyhawks at Ohakea, once being on three-day standby in the 90s for the Gulf War. "Yeah, I just like went, okay… I lived on base for three years, and we did that Top Gun thing. I was doing Sale Of The Century at the time so I'd just drive down to Wellington for filming."
That connection with the RNZAF was renewed last year when a family friend's son graduated from the pilot school. "We went down to the graduation and I thought that people don't know what the air force do and what they're like, so that's when I realised, 'Ah, there's a story here'."
Dobson says New Zealand pilots tend to be well regarded internationally. "What I really gathered is that foremost it's the quality of the individuals and it does come down to that New Zealand mentality that we live in a small country and we don't rely too much on other people.
"And our air force pilots have always been really well trained and again, that's because we're small. Overseas, you might have six or seven squadrons with a different function, but here one squadron will do all those functions.
"Here, you have everyone under one roof. If there's a problem, they actually get people in the room and solve it. The smallness is actually an advantage."
New Zealand's Air Force: Then & Now is the latest project for Dobson, a long-time TV personality who now runs her own production company.
Jack Wakefield (pictured with producer Jude Dobson) was a Wellington Bomber gunner with No. 75 Squadron (NZ) in WW2.
She grew up in the Auckland suburb of Mangere Bridge, and in 1988, placed fourth in the Miss Universe New Zealand pageant, won by Lana Coc-Kroft. A year later her TV career began, joining Steve Parr on Sale Of The Century. After that she fronted a string of lifestyle shows, notably 5.30 With Jude, while raising her three children.
She's not seen in front of the camera so much these days, so does she prefer background roles?
"Nobody's offered a job on screen for a long time," Dobson, now 53, says with a laugh.
"But I find that the easy bit. Producing and directing takes a lot more work. I like to do something top to tail – I write, research and find the whole thing and pull it out the other end.
"I enjoy it, but I'm pretty exhausted by it now, to be fair."
New Zealand's Air Force: Then & Now, Prime, Saturday April 25
www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/tv-guide/121001654/jude-dobson-explores-history-of-military-flight-in-new-zealands-air-force-then--now
