AIR FORCE CROSS

Camp News (Northern Command), Volume 1, Issue 26, 25 October 1940, Page 8

AIR FORCE CROSS

Award To Officers Serving In New Zealand OHAKEA SQUADRON LEADER. Two officers of the Royal New Zealand Air Force have been awarded the Air Force Cross. They are: — Squadron Leader Harry Lumsden Tancred, R.N.Z.A.F. Station, Ohakea. Flight Lieutenant Erik Alfred Anderson Moen. R.N.Z.A.F.. Station, Wigram. Notice to this 'effect was contained in the London Gazette of October 11, 1940. Squadron Leader Tancred was born in Queensland. Australia, and is 31 years of age. He was educated at Nelson College, and for a period was engaged in farming activities. Early in 1930 he enlisted in the Samoa Military Police, which force was, shortly afterward, disbanded. , He then went to England, where he was granted a short service commission with the Royal Air Force. He served with the R.A.F. in England, the Middle East, and Northern Ireland, returning for a period of leave in 1933. In 1935 Squadron Leader Tancred was married in Ireland, and the following year he returned with his wife to New Zealand, where, he entered the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Later he joined the Wanganui Aero Club, and in 1937 was appointed to the Reserve of Air Officers. After the outbreak. of war, he spent a period, at the Flying Instructors’ School, Mangere, and later he was transferred to R.N.Z.A.F. Station. Ohakea. Flight Lieutenant Moen was born in Dunedin and is 30 years of age. He was educated at the Otago Boys’ High School, and for some years was employed by an oil company in Christchurch and Dunedin. He became a member of the Otago Aero Chib, receiving his pilot’s licence in 1932, and in 1935 he joined the New Zealand Territorial Air Force. Two years later, in 1937, he was appointed to a short service commission - in the Royal New Zealand Air .Force. He was married last year, and is stationed at Wigram. The Air Force Cross has also been awarded to Squadron Leader Gordon John Grindell, R.A.F., about whom details are not available.