Mustard gas RNZAF Station 1944

[pd1]

RNZAF Museum recent photo -  Mustard gas burns on an airman's forearm. RNZAF Station Whenuapai (image date 18/03/1944).

The Geneva Gas Protocol of 1925 prohibited 'the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids materials or devices’. Why was this sulphur mustard liquid present in NZ in 1944 and how would this airman have been exposed to this blistering agent? The Italians and the Japanese used sulphur mustard against Ethiopian forces (1936) and Chinese troops (WW2) respectively.


Skin exposure to sulphur mustard occurs by contact with the liquid or the vapour. Sulphur mustard is an alkylating agent that binds to DNA resulting in coding errors and loss of DNA function. The skin blistering is thought to be the consequence of massive cell death following alkylation of the cellular DNA. One of the photos suggests the presence of a full thickness burn on the forearm, typically these burns do not heal without a split-thickness skin graft. Severe pain and itching are typical of these lesions.


Was this chemical weaponised and stored at RNZAF Station Whenuapai for defensive or offensive purposes?

[Antonio]

Rather vicious!

[saratoga]

The Japanese were suspected of having Mustard gas weapons during ww2.

The US and Australian forces had large stockpiles of artillery and aerial Mustard weapons (bombs) held in Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory.

NZ also held stocks of Mustard artillery (25pr), some stored at Belmont ammo bunkers, likely elsewhere too. So this could have been training for in theatre or handling exposure.

[30sqnatc]

To the best of my knowledge it was only stored in the Belmont ammunition storage area (Wellington) on behalf of British Government as part of Pacific strategic reserve. I had a friend who spoke with one of the soldiers tasked with removing it all post VJ Day via dumping in the Cook Strait.

[scrooge]

Interesting top photo, it looks like primary contact was the forearm and from that secondary was the bicep, given the wounds look equidistance from the elbow and the bicep is noticeably less. Did he fold his arm up after initial contact?

[saratoga]

Sept 29, 2022 16:59:07 GMT 12 30sqnatc said:

To the best of my knowledge it was only stored in the Belmont ammunition storage area (Wellington) on behalf of British Government as part of Pacific strategic reserve. I had a friend who spoke with one of the soldiers tasked with removing it all post VJ Day via dumping in the Cook Strait.

So with storage there would have been a requirement to be able to identify and react to a leak, either from deterioration or mishandling incident.

[Dave Homewood]

The British had mustard gas in India too, and used it in a trial at Deolali where they ended up gassing a lot of Indians!

And of course there was the terrible Bari raid incident on Allied shipping carrying the mustard gas stock to Italy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raid_on_Bari

[womble47]

A few years ago this subject was covered in an article in the NZ listener .If my Teflon coated brain remembers correctly (everything slips off it) Mustard gas stocks were held in 25 pr shells and also in aircraft bombs .The bombs were from the US .Everything was dumped in a deep part of Cook Straight .I think the article was triggered by a report that a trawler bought some up in its net.
Sorry that's all I can recall at the moment

[pd1]

I found this interesting working paper from the Kiwi peace activist Owen Wilkes who investigated the history of New Zealand’s involvement with chemical weapons (CW). The paper is located here legacy.disarmsecure.org/A%20History%20of%20New%20Zealand%20Chemical%20Warfare.pdf

Wilkes noted that “New Zealand had substantial stocks of artillery CW during the war, but it seems that aerial bombing was being considered for retaliatory.” A NZ army officer training with Australians to develop CW delivery systems for the tropics reported in June 1943 that the “The view was now held that the offensive use of chemical agents was primarily a matter for the Air Force.”

Wilkes opined “RNZAF units, on the other hand, remained in the Pacific until October 1945 and could well have been involved in US tactical CW if any had been implemented in the Pacific.”
As for the location of the stocks of CW in New Zealand Wilkes comments that “It is not possible to determine if the chemical munitions were split up between Auckland, Belmont and Burnham, as was suggested in 1942.”

If the photo location is correct perhaps the airman was burn whilst engaged in an exercise designed to prepare the RNZAF for the offensive use of sulphur mustard bombing of the Japanese.

[Dave Homewood]

I think the two photos actually show two different people.

One is wearing a khaki shirt with the sleeve rolled up, and shorts, and he has a watch on his left wrist.

The other is in battledress trousers and blouse, and you can see a patch on his right wrist where a watch has worn away the hairs. His hands look older and he is more hairy.