RNZAF Exercise Database

[glideboy]

Oct 30, 2008 13:36:43 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Exercise JOSS STICK

[nige]

How did the name "Spanish Dollar" come about FlyNavy? There must be an interesting reason behind etc.

[FlyNavy]

Never ask a Navy chap to tell a story - you will get more than you expect. I'll attempt to research the name:

[Dave Homewood]

I'm beginning to see this is much huger than thought. I never realised so many RNZAF exercises were being held back in the early 1990's, and no doubt the same will apply to all the postwar decades.

Rather than continue to upgrade the first post I now reckon I might have to create a new website datebase page on my site, like the aerobatic teams and airshows pages.

By the way Silver Bullet and all the ones involving doing Cook Strait ferry duties were Operations, not Exercises, as far as I'm aware.

Keep the info coming in and when i get a chance I'll transfer it over to a new page and get it online.

[phil]

Oct 31, 2008 11:09:37 GMT 12 @vgp said:

Excercise Grey Ghost - 75 sqn late 90s based out of whenuapai

I remember being on one of those, Grey Ghost 97 I think it must have been. I think I recall they were doing maritime strike.

[Dave Homewood]

Shorty, was the RNZAF actually involved in Coastcrawl, and was it an exercise or an operation? If I recall rightly this was an operation performed by US aircraft alone to photograph and map NZ's coast, wasn't it?

Mike, thanks for those Orion exercises. Can you tell me what the various abbreviations stand for
PWO
JMC
FCP

Thanks

[shorty]

Hmmm, I think Handclasp was an opeation too. Bit tricky at times as some people are fairly free with interchanging operation and exercise.

[Dave Homewood]

I was thinking earlier, perhaps once this Exercise page is up and running (I nearly have it ready to go) perhaps we can compile a postwar operations list too (ie general operations like Operation Fresco, not individual sorties within the op of course).

A choccie fish to the first person who can state what Operation Fresco was.

[shorty]

Armed forces coverage for the UK firefighters strike 2002/2003:-)

[Dave Homewood]

No.

[Dave Homewood]

Shorty has pointed this out to me via email
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fresco

Well, that is not anything to do with the RNZAF's Operation Fresco, which was in fact the operation where No. 40 Squadron deployed to Saudi Arabia in December 1990 to join in Operation Desert Shield, prelude to the last time the RNZAF ever went to war.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Mike, much appreciated.

[juanita]

Is this thread still alive?
If so I can add some info on the Willoh series of joint exercises held between 1979 and 2010 (there were a few lapsed years)

[juanita]

Willoh exercises

Joint exercises between RAAF & RNZAF.
Willoh 1: July 1979: four 75 Sqn A-4 deployed to RAAF Williamtown
Willoh 2: Nov 1979: six 77 Sqn RAAF Mirages to Ohakea
Willoh 3: July 1980: four 75 Sqn A-4 deployed to RAAF Williamtown
Willoh 4: Aug 1980: eight 77 Sqn RAAF Mirages to Ohakea
Willoh 5: July 1981: Held RAAF base Townsville with a/c from 75 Sqn RNZAF & 77 Sqn RAAF
Next one was Nov 1981 (in NZ), and it continued on with two exercise per year held alternatively in Aust or NZ until 1987. After this it became less regular and depended upon other commitments.
In 2001 the series went into hibernation. Another was held in 2010, but the nature of this exercise was slightly different then the earlier ones.

[Dave Homewood]

All our threads remain 'alive' and resurface periodically as new info comes to light, so please feel free to add anything you can.

[davidd]

Two other exercise series which have come to my notice:

BROWN OWL (sometimes accompanied RED OWLS, but NATS bods rather than PTS, with Devons)

BLUEBIRD (When Wasp crews sometimes accompanied BLACKBIRD exercises in South Island mountains).

I have a whole heap more, including many in Singapore/Malaysia with 41 Squadron Iroquois (later 141 Flight/SUS). Also many more involving the P-3s on regular exercise to Australia, Hawaii, Singapore, etc; however I will have to round them up and assemble them into some sort of order (alphabetical?) Most of these were to more comprehensively-equipped bases with more advanced training aids, or better live firing ranges, or just plain different (from NZ) exercise areas, with other crews from Allied nations to compete against. For instance there was a long-lived series of anti-sub (ASW) exercises held in Australia which our P-3s participated in, known as the TAME series (from 1969 to 1981 at least), named mostly after fish from memory, although another of these was named (I think!) TAME ABYSYNTHE (mispelling of ABSINTHE?), so perhaps they ran out of marine creature names! Then there was a long series held in Singapore in which the Sunderlands, then the P-3s participated, from about 1955 onwards, which were major multi-national maritime/air war games held under the auspices of SEATO, all beginning with SEA, such as SEA DRAGON, SEA DEVIL, etc. SEATO of course went defunct in about 1973 from memory, replaced by ANZUK series of exercises. The WEDLOCK series were regular exercises carried out by our P-3s, but these were flown out of Singapore over a long period.

Something which may already have been briefly mentioned on this site was the employment of the "new" B 727s to convey the NZ Police around the country during the 1981 Springbok Tour; I think this was known as Operation RUGBY (correct me if I am wrong.) And in case any Board members are confused by the terms "Operation" and "Exercise", the former are "real" and are often (but not always) arranged at short notice to meet a sudden emergency (whether military or civilian), and employ whatever units are available with the appropriate personnel and equipment required to carry out the task. They could be in the form of planned overseas assistance projects (right back to TONGAPAI in 1954), normally at the behest of the NZ government, or they could be emergency airlifts (PLUTO over Cook Strait for instance, as well as other over the Tasman, and some within New Zeaalnd such as after the Canterbury earthquakes) or major searches, or programmed assistance for the furtherence of scientific research (such as ICE CUBE). Exercises, on the other hand, are always planned well in advance and have a purely training function and focus. They generally follow a detailed standard format, although weather, as always, often has a hand in disrupting them (as with normal operations), and almost inevitably the focus or details can change over the years. For instance, the FALCONS' ROOST series started (about 1973) as purely an armament training exercise for the Operations Flight of 14 Squadron, and was always in the form of a tented camp at an "away" airfield anywhere in NZ (like WISE OWLs), but after a few years they were usually accompanied by the Training Flight with the current course of student pilots and their instructors, although they of course did not indulge in armament training (although armament training was often in the form of simulated strikes, so did not have to always feature live weapons). Definitely held in greater number than purely air force exercises were the joint-service ones, and apart from the big international exercises were the smaller all-NZ ones, either tri-service or just two services, Air - Navy or Air - Army, of which there were very large numbers, although frequently they were on a fairly small scale. Perhaps a couple of days of simulated attacks by Vamires or Strikemasters mounted from Whenuapai against the odd NZ or friendly foreign warship in Auckland waters, or some involvement with the Army at Waiouru, Burnham, Tekapo, or just about anywhere in NZ or the South Pacific islands.
David D

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks David. Interesting stuff as usual. And thanks juanita for those Willoh details.

I wonder if Falcon's Roost will return with the return of No. 14 Squadron. I always thought that was a great name for an exercise, as is Wise Owl.

[Dave Homewood]

Here's a list of RNZAF exercises from just 2011-12 alone, I really think there's far too many exercises over the past 60+ years to ever get a proper database together.

airforce.mil.nz/operations/training-ex/default.htm

The following Exercises were conducted in 2011-2012
Exercise Bersama Lima: South East Asia
Exercise Lion Zeal: Singapore
Exercise Malzeal: Malaysia
Exercise Triton Storm: Australia
Exercise Pitch Black: Australia
Exercise Tungsten: New Zealand
Each year NZDF maritime patrol assets, including RNZAF P-3K2 Orions, Navy SH-2G Seasprite helicopters and Navy ships, conduct warfare training off the east coast of the North Island.
Exercise Bluebird: New Zealand
Exercise Precision Red: Australia
Exercise Skytrain: New Zealand
Exercise Maple Flag: Canada
Exercise Blackbird: New Zealand
No. 3 Squadron's annual mountain flying exercise at Dip Flat in the South Island.
Exercise Pekapeka: New Zealand
Exercise Steel Talon: New Zealand
Exercise Alam Halfa: New zealand
Exercise Tropic Astra: Samoa

[juanita]

I would have thought that might be a really good reason to put together a database.
It mightn't be the most exciting reading but its a great reference source for the future.

[suthg]

And then there are the Operations (as has been mentioned by davidd and others) that we have been involved with each year, probably a smaller list.