Malaysian Pilots Pass

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30447, 22 May 1964, Page 1

Malaysian Pilots Pass

The Air-Force-blue ranks of a graduation parade yesterday at the Royal New Zealand Air Force station, Wigram, were broken in four places by the striking uniforms of the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

The wearers of two of them were graduating pilot officers —Pilot Officer Ahmad Nadzri

and Pilot Officer Mustaffa Bakri. They are the first Malaysians to do their entire training in New Zealand and receive their flying brevets here. instead of in Malaya. They stood out in their white, high-collared jackets, blue sashes and trousers, pillbox hats, and white gloves. Group Captain G. B. Warner, Royal .Air Force adviser to the United Kingdom High Commission in New Zealand, singled them out in his graduation address.

He said he was sure they fully appreciated the responsibility on their shoulders as members of a new Commonwealth air force. The Royal Malaysian Air Force was a newcomer, he said, and the bonds could be seen being forged daily among the Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. Troubles were looming ahead in South-east Asia, but he was confident that, with strong Commonwealth ties, in time “our just cause will prevail.” The four Air Forces had strong responsibilities for the years ahead, and he was confident that they were all capable and ready to meet whatever demands might be made on them.

Group Captain Warner said that aircraft were becoming sb complex that they were no longer just aircraft: they were weapons systems, and men of the highest calibre were needed to handle them. Equipment was becoming increasingly sophisticated, and it was vital to keep up with it.

“Once you start lagging behind,” he said, “you’ll get left behind so quickly that you will never be able to catch up again.”

Pilot Officer P. L. Hensby-Bennett, of Auckland, won the De Lange Flying trophy. The Astrolabe trophy for the best navigator was won by Pilot Officer M. E. Murray, of Auckland, and the Sir Robert Clark-Hall trophy for the best signaller was won by Sergeant J. W. Hannaford, of Nelson. Other graduates were Pilot Officers B. A. Lockie (Auckland), W. T. Edmeades (Waiuku), W. N. Johnson (Whangarei), M. W. Crawford (Karamea), A. R. Gill (Hastings), R. M. Bulger (Auckland), R. C. Bell (Rangidra), G. K. Ogilvie (United Kingdom), and G. J. Watson (New Plymouth), and Sergeant G. A. Stagg' (Oamaru).