100 N.Z. Airmen Transferred To Fleet Air Arm

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 45, 22 February 1945, Page 4

100 N.Z. Airmen Transferred To Fleet Air Arm

(Special Correspondent.) Received Wednesday, 10.30 p.m. LONDON, Feb. 21. As the result of a policy of enlarging the Fleet Air Arm with a view to operations in the Pacific, 100 members of the R.N.Z.A.F. have been transferred and will fly with the Navy. One outcome of this is that several New Zealanders have had the unusual experience of having worn the uniforms of all three services in this war. Typical of this is the case of Flying Officer J. J. Bishop, of Auckland. When he was a second-lieutenant in the N.Z.E.F. he was transferred to the R.N.Z.A.F. during 1943 when there was a surplus of army officers. He trained as a pilot in New Zealand and he has now joined the Fleet Air Arm. Others who are in the same position include Flying Officer G. M. J. Brown, of Auckland, and V. H. Maisey, of Cambridge. It is stated that non-commissicned officers in tho R.N.Z.A.F. will on entering the Fleet Air Arm take the rank of acting lieutenants while officers will retain their present seniority.