BOMBING WEEK - Royal New Zealand Air Force

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L-R: Alec Brook ex 3 Sqn, Neil Morgan ex many AF squadrons, Cliff Cashmore ex 3
Sqn and WT and CTY Flights, Dave Hobman ex 3 Sqn & WT fl ight current 6 Sqn civvy
MR RICHARD JACKSON
NAVY TODAY EDITOR
On a hot, calm Auckland morning, No. 6 Squadron RNZAF marched onto
the tarmac in front of their Whenuapai hangar and before a crowd of VIPs
veterans and Defence Force colleagues. Two of the Squadron’s Seasprite
helicopters formed the back drop; the Squadron marched on in two fl ights.
But the ranks and fi les of Air Force blue were broken by the stark white of
naval summer uniform – No. 6 Squadron is a joint Service unit combining
naval and Air Force personnel under the command of LTCDR Keith Gilchrist
RNZN [see Air Force News, February 2006].
The 16 March parade marked the formal re-formation of the Squadron,
which has evolved from the Naval Support Flight, formerly a sub-unit of
No. 3 Squadron. The Chief of Air Force explained that it is because of the
RNZAF’s strong maritime heritage that he wanted the new Squadron to
carry a number from a squadron that had seen active service and was part
of that heritage. Air Vice-marshal Hamilton commented, ‘It is not often
that we get the pleasure of establishing squadrons, and this occasion is
important to both the Navy and the Air Force.’
Rear Admiral Ledson (CN) also spoke during the ceremony, emphasizing
that the former Naval Support Flight and now No 6 Squadron have set the
benchmark for ‘the joint effect’ and he hopes that No 6 Squadron’s future
will be as illustrious as its past.
The privilege of inspecting the Flights on parade was given to Dr G Hitchcock,
who is the last surviving pilot from the original No 6 Squadron. Dr
Hitchcock trained on Catalinas in 1942 with the USN, then fl ew six delivery
fl ights across the Pacifi c to bring Catalinas to the RNZAF. He remains proud
of No 6 Squadron’s record which, he pointed out, includes rescuing 80
fl iers by open water landings. (Dr Hitchcock is also a veteran of Bomber
Command, fl ying Lancasters of No.635 Sqn RAF in 1944-45.)
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LTCDR K Gilchrist with Arthur Strother, Iain Hill & Norman Atkins.
PROUDLY
In the crowd, a number of other maritime veterans watched with personal
interest. Some had also fl own in No 6 Squadron, some in P-3 Orions and
others had crewed ships’ fl ights in the Leander-class frigates. Among them
was Arthur Strother, who served as a fl ight engineer in No 6 Squadron
during the war. In fact, Arthur said - after some prompting - that he was
one of those who collected and crewed the biplane Short Singapore fl ying
boats that they delivered to the RNZAF Base in Fiji in 1941, as the Pacifi c
War began.
‘One day we attacked a Japanese sub off Tonga,’ he commented. ‘We
saw black smoke in the distance [from the sub’s diesel engines] on the
horizon, and pushed the throttles through the gate. We almost reached
100 miles an hour,’ he said with a grin, recalling the old fl ying boat’s
inherent low speed. ‘I was in the front turret; we reached the spot where
AFN69 APRIL 06 www.airforce.mil.nz