Kiwis at war!

[pampa14]

During World War II, men and machines of the Royal Air Force of New Zealand fought with bravery and honor the Axis forces. The following link provides, through a compilation of images, a tribute to this important and valuable Air Force. I hope you enjoy and I count on your visit.


Aviação em Floripa: Kiwis à guerra!

 

[A4K]

Great photos mate - quite a few I hadn't seen before!

There was one photo that didn't fit... the York. Great aircraft, but we never used them.

 

[rogerwilko]

Did the kiwis get any Packard Kittyhawks?

 

[HBPencil]

Nice photos, thanks for posting the link.

Did the kiwis get any Packard Kittyhawks?

No, the RNZAF didn't operate any F or L Kittyhawks... although iirc one L was received by mistake however it was returned to the US and replaced with an N.​

 

[nuuumannn]

Yes, great set of pictures, like Evan, not seen some of these before. Some of them are definitely post war though; the Corsairs third image from the top were taken at Iwakuni in Japan after the war, also the white Catalinas and Sunderlands were all post war. The 30th image down was experiments done with top dressing equipment using an Avenger post war, you can see the hopper in the bomb bay. Just down from that you can see Corsairs and the nose of a Catalina at Hobsonville; sadly all were scrapped, as were the Corsairs and Kittyhawk in the fourth image from the bottom, taken at Rukuhia, near Hamilton at the aircraft graveyard in the 1950s. Just down from that there's a rather evocative picture of an Avenger with a guy standing on the wing; in the background can be seen three Vickers Vincents/Vildebeests. There's also a picture of airmen scrambling toward their Spitfires; definitely pre-war and not with any obvious New Zealand connection, probably 19 Sqn at Duxford, the first unit to receive them during the Munich Crisis based on their colour schemes.

Just above the York image is one of a Hudson, that's most likely a 2 General Reconnaissance Sqn aircraft out of RNZAF Base Nelson; my home turf where I work on regional airliners. I recognise the coastline; just above the Hudson's nose is the town of Motueka; I live some 15 miles south west of Mot at the base of the mountain range you can see in the background. Inboard of the sand bar just below the Hudson is the sleepy community of Mapua, where my family often go for fish and chips and ice creams on the pier.