Pages tagged with: air force

The commander-in-chief takes to the air. Dame Catherine Tizard's inspection of Ohakea Air Force Base included a flight in an Aermacchi MB 339C jet trainer.

By 1944 more than 6000 New Zealanders were based in the United Kingdom, serving in the RAF.

Advice and suggested questions for interviewing Royal Navy and Royal Air Force veterans

The James Stellin Memorial Park in the suburb of Northland, Wellington.

Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and the 'Big Wing'

In October 1941, New Zealand Spitfire pilot Carlyle Everiss heroically sacrificed his life to save the Scottish village of Cowie from serious damage.

Memorial to a kiwi pilot who sacrificed himself to save a French village

As his damaged Hawker Typhoon fighter-bomber rapidly lost height, Pilot Officer James Stellin struggled to avoid crashing into Saint-Maclou-la-Brière, a village of 370 people. He succeeded, but at the cost of his own life. The villagers gave him a hero’s funeral and have honoured his memory ever since.

Royal Air Force ground crew clean a Lancaster bomber between sorties. Many of the thousands of New Zealanders serving in Bomber Command flew these planes.

New Zealand's first female military personnel were joined within 18 months by members of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and the Women's Royal Naval Service.