MILSON STAGES FIRST WARTIME AIR PAGEANT

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 60, 11 March 1940, Page 8

MILSON STAGES FIRST WARTIME AIR PAGEANT

Realistic Dive Bombing And Dog Fights DEFENCE MINISTER’S PRAISE FOR MAORI BATTALION With Vickers Vincent machines roaring out of tho faultless blue sky to plaster the aerodrobe with bombs until a white smoke pall hung over the target area, the first air display given in New Zealand since the war began was staged before an appreciative crowd of approximately 10,000 on Saturday afternoon. Over 7000 paid for admission. The exercises were performed before the attentive eye of tho Minister for Defence, Hon. F. Jones, after lie had inspected the full strength of the Maori Battalion and praised the men for their efficiency no less than for the high motives of their action in volunteering for service overseas.

The Minister, who was accompanied to Milson by several of the leading figures in the R.N.Z.A.F., had made the trip specially from Wellington and returned to the capital on Saturday evening.

Among others who attended were:— Mr. P. Paikea, M.P. for Northern Maori, and Mrs. Paikea; Mr. E. T. Tirikatenc, M.P. for Southern Maori; and Mr. Tai Mitchell, representing tho Arawa Maoris.

The Air Force party included:— Group Captain H. W. L. Saunders, D.F.C., Chief of Air Staff, R.N.Z.A.F.; Squadron-Leader T. W. White, commanding officer of the Air Force Training Depot at Levin; Squadron-Leader B. Shicl, president of the Air Force Band; Flight-Lieut. R. Sherwood-Hale, Adjutant to the Air Force Training Depot at Levin; and Squadron-Leader A. G. Gerrand, commanding officer of the R.N.Z.A.F. Station at Ohakea.

‘‘Their display this afternoon lias convinced me that they are tho best body of men the Maori race could have put forward,” declared Mr. Jones after taking tho salute at the march past of the Battalion. ‘‘This is my first opportunity of meeting them and inspecting them, and I am as delighted as I am sure you have all been with their parade and tho display they have given. ‘‘The Maori race has always been loyal, and the men who have already como forward are sufficient not only to send the original Battalion away at full strength, but to provide reinforcements right to the end of the year. A total of 2395 Maoris have enlisted, 1327 have been passed fit, 737 are in camp, 310 passed fit are still available, and 540 have still to be examined.” The Minister added that he was sure that when they went to their homes on leave they would bring more men back with them, or at least they would be responsible for more enlistments. Ninety Too Many! Mr. Jones then raised a laugh by sayi ing that when the Maori recruits were I first called into camp at the end of January, they brought with them eighty or ninety more than the required number. ‘‘How they got thore I don’t know', but come they did,” said Mr. Jones. Speaking of the nation’s general war effort, the Minister said he w r ould like to sec about 10,000 more men ready to fill the vacancies that would inevitably occur. He urged full support for the recruiting rally at which the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Teter Fraser, will speak in Palmerston North on Tuesday night. The country needed the support of everybody, and those who could not take a uniform could make some other sacrifice, such as going without certain things, working harder in the factory, or, as had already been done, offering free-of-intcrcst loans to the Government for the prosecution of the war. If we lost the struggle the unique privileges of citizenship in New Zealand would be lost. Only by the concentration of all our resources, including manpower, could we hope to rid the country of the menace of Nazism.

Mr. Jones recalled the Navy’s splendid part in the River Plate battle, and also the exploits of many New Zealand airmen already on. active service, such as Flying-Officer Kain who had recently been so much in the news.

Declaring that the Government had been glad to associato itself with tho A. and P. Association in bringing the Air Force and the men of the 28th Battalion together before the public, Mr. Jones concluded by saying that his inspection of tho Battalion had been an inspiration to him, and he expressed best wishes to all who wero serving the Dominion whether already overseas or still in training at home. The Minister and other officials were officially welcomed by the Mayor, Mr. A. E. Mansford, on behalf of the city and the A. and P. Association for the benefit of which the pageant was staged. Cheers were given for the Minister and for those members of the forces present. The inspection and march past of the Maori Battalion was identical with the procedure followed when Lord Galway visited the camp on Friday and also with that on the earlier occasion of a visit by Major-General J. E. Duigan, officer commanding the forces in New Zealand. After inspection of each com-

pany, tho Battalion marched past the saluting post by platoons, while the R.N.Z.A.F. headquarters band under Bandmaster Flying-Officer Kirk-Burn-and played military airs and ‘‘E Pare Ra” and ‘ ‘ Waiata Poi.” A rendering of the Battalion's marching song was also most popular. Realistic Air Display. The air display, which was thoroughly realistic, was preceded by an exhibition of drill by 48 trainees from the Training Depot at Wcraroa. Though they had been only four weeks in training, the men gave a fine display of precision work under their instructor, Sergeant Martin. The officers in charge of the Levin party, Flight-Lieut. C. N. Rabonc and Pilot-Officer N. R. Lecher, made the air “circus” more interesting to the crowd by interpreting the various manoeuvres over an amplifying system. The machines used, a flight of five Vickers Vincent Lombcr?, from the

Ohakea air base, were under the command of Squadron-Leader H. L. Tancred. They soared over the aerodrome in close formation before splitting company, two coming to earth while the others, piloted by Squadron-Leader Ta'ncred, Flight-Lieut. G. R. White and Flight-Lieut. S. Wiltshire, proceeded to give a display of formation flying. Then Flight-Lieut. J. Turner showed high skill in manoeuvring his machine before dropping a parachute with dummy “jumper” and the parachute came down in a central part of the field. Followed tho most spectacular part of the programme, the same machines which had carried out tho formation flying giving a demonstration of dive bombing. First they came over in echelon, then they separated and dived repeatedly at the target area from all quarters. It was perfect flying weather and they made the most of it. The crowd -was several times delighted to seo a bomb land plumb in the centre of a smoke pall rising from tho previous shot. Throughout the display tho bombs wero kept concentrated within a surprisingly small area, tribute to the accuracy attained during training operations at Ohakea.

Then there was a dog fight between machines piloted by Flight-Lieut. Turner and Flight-Lieut. E. Robertson, one of whom was “shot down in flames” to tho great satisfaction of the spectators. But he was in the air and with his squadron again when, after a final item, the attacking by one machine of a drogue target trailing another, the five bombers assembled on the field and took off, almost wingtip to wingtip, for their flight back to Ohakea.

The exercises were controlled from the ground by Flight-Lieut. P. Mathieson, also of Ohakea.