R.A.F. MAN’S RETURN
Group Captain R. F. Aitken (NJZ. Press Association) AUCKIAND. April 13. Group Captain R. F. Aitken, a New Zealander and Timaru Boys’ High School old boy. caught his first sight of home in 24 years from the deck of the Rangitane as it neared Auckland on Wednesday. He has visited or lived in 84 countries, but never New Zealand, since he left to join the Royal Air Force in 1938. Group Captain Aitken, who has retired by his own request, will farm his family’s 57,000 acres of hilly sheep country in the Orongorongo ranges, just outside Wellington. With Mrs Aitken, and their 19-year-old daughter, Jacqueline, Group Captain Aitken left for Wellington this morning. While in the R.A.F., Group Captain Aitken commanded No. 3 Hurricane squadron in the Debden sector of the Battle of Britain. Latterly, he was stationed for three years in Cyprus and for the last three years has been assistant commandant of the R.A.F. staff college at Andover. His daughter, Jacqueline, was a champion yachtswoman in Cyprus, and is one of Britain’s leading woman glider pilots. She has been trained as an air hostess, and hopes to obtain the same work in New Zealand.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume C, Issue 29488, 14 April 1961, Page 22
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199R.A.F. MAN’S RETURN Press, Volume C, Issue 29488, 14 April 1961, Page 22
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