The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) is organised into a small number of flying squadrons and ground-based units. Most of the RNZAF's operational and training units are stationed at RNZAF Base Auckland and RNZAF Base Ohakea in the North Island. Several training and maintenance units are located at RNZAF Base Woodbourne in the South Island.
During the Second World War, three groups were formed: Northern Group RNZAF, in the North of the North Island (HQ Auckland), Central Group RNZAF (HQ Wellington), in the South of the North Island, and Southern Group RNZAF (HQ Christchurch), in the South Island. They were in the process of formation by February 1942. [1] In August 1942 these Group HQs were raised to the status of Air HQs and placed under Air Commodores.
In September 1943 the RNZAF reached its peak strength in New Zealand. By this time establishments included Air Headquarters in Wellington, the three group headquarters, and a total of thirty-three stations and depots throughout the country. [2] The Group Headquarters were combined headquarters and housed Navy and Army as well as Air Force staffs. Northern and Central Groups were operational in function, and were equipped with filter rooms and fighter operations rooms, while Southern Group was primarily responsible for training. Northern Group, besides administering stations in New Zealand, also controlled Norfolk Island, where a radar unit and a servicing section catered for transient aircraft.
At that time Northern Group administered RNZAF Station Waipapakauri, RNZAF Station Onerahi, RNZAF Station Whenuapai, and the stations at Mangere, Seagrove, Hamilton, Te Awamutu, Rotorua, Tauranga, and Swanson. No. 1 Stores Depot RNZAF moved on 10 April 1943 from the Exhibition Hall in central Hamilton to the northern outskirts of Hamilton, where RNZAF Station Te Rapa was established. Air Commodore Maurice Buckley commanded Northern Group from Auckland in 1942–43. Between April 1944-31 March 1945, the station at Tauranga was vacated. [3]
Later, No. 1 (Islands) Group RNZAF served in the Solomon Islands.
Air Commodore James Findlay served as Air Officer Commanding Central Group from 1942. Central Group was suspended in October 1943, and its functions shared between Air Headquarters and the other two groups. [2] Northern and Southern Groups were disbanded in October 1944.
Fighter Ops Room/Filter Room/COIC, Auckland [4]
| Unit | Base | Equipment |
|---|---|---|
| No. 1 Personnel Dispatch Centre | Auckland | |
| Transit Servicing Unit | Waipapakauri | |
| Station HQ Servicing Unit | Onerahi | |
| No. 1 Squadron RNZAF | Whenuapai | 12 Hudon, 2 Oxford |
| No. 17 Squadron RNZAF | Whenuapai | |
| No. 40 Squadron RNZAF | Whenuapai | |
| No. 60 Squadron RNZAF | Whenuapai | RDF |
| No. 1 RNZAF Hospital | Whenuapai | |
| No. 4 Field Maintenance Unit | Whenuapai | |
| Seaplane Training Flight | RNZAF Station Hobsonville | |
| No. 1 Assembly Depot | Hobsonville | |
| General Engineering Section | Hobsonville | |
| Marine Section | Hobsonville | |
| No. 1 AA Cooperation Flight | Mangere | |
| Northern Group Communications Flight | Mangere | |
| Works Construction Depot | Mangere | |
| No. 15 Squadron RNZAF | Mangere | Kittyhawk (Anti Malarial Treatment) |
| Bulk Fuel Storage Depot | Otahuhu | |
| No. 1 Stores Depot RNZAF | Hamilton | |
| No. 1 Repair Depot | Hamilton | |
| No. 302 Elementary Ground Training Squadron | Hamilton | |
| No. 4 Stores Depot RNZAF | Te Awamutu | |
| Initial Training Wing | Rotorua | |
| Central Flying School RNZAF | Tauranga | Moth, Harvard, Oxford |
| No. 303 Elementary Ground Training Squadron | Tauranga | |
| No. 51 RDF Unit Servicing Section | Norfolk Island |
Through much of the postwar period the RNZAF was administered through two groups. At RNZAF Station Wigram in the outskirts of Christchurch was Training Group RNZAF (active by May 1948 [5] –early 1970s at least) responsible for training and support. [6] By 1988 Training Group had become Support Group RNZAF, which included No. 1 Stores Depot RNZAF at RNZAF Te Rapa and No. 1 Repair Depot RNZAF at RNZAF Base Woodbourne (New Zealand Official Yearbooks).[ citation needed ] Operations Group RNZAF at Auckland at one time supervised Strike, Transport and Maritime Operations Wings. [7] Operations Group was formed on 1 July 1965, initially under the command of Air Commodore K.W. Trigance.
A skeleton listing of RNZAF units, grouped under Operations Group and Support Group and seemingly circa 1984, can be seen at Desmond Ball's "The Anzac Connection."
Operations Group and Support Group were merged into Air Command, under an official who was to be called the "RNZAF Air Commander" but in common reference was usually known as AOC Air Command, on 30 April 1995.
The RNZAF includes the following units. Note that the organisational structure below is likely to contain some omissions and inaccuracies. In particular, Ground Training and Nos. 485 and 488 Wings were disestablished in early 2015 and replaced by Base Commanders. As part of the same reorganisation, the headquarters of No. 209 (Expeditionary Support) Squadron was disestablished, and its RNZAF Force Protection, air movements, aviation refuelling, and other sub-units reassigned. Woodbourne was the first base to make the change, synchronised with a routine change of command; Ohakea and Auckland followed.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Permanent Air Force, becoming an independent air force on 1 April 1937.
No. 42 Squadron is an active transport squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). It was formed at Rongotai Airport (Wellington) in December 1943 to provide a communications service around New Zealand, initially using impressed civilian types. It was briefly officially disbanded in 1946, but its aircraft continued with general purpose operations at RNZAF Station Ohakea. When reformed, the squadron was equipped with various numbers of North American Harvard, Auster, Grumman Avenger, Airspeed Oxford, de Havilland Devon, North American P-51 Mustang and Douglas Dakota aircraft.
No. 2 Squadron RNZAF was a squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). It was formed in 1930 as part of the Territorial Air Force with the main headquarters at Wellington and shadow flights at New Plymouth and Wanganui. Squadron personnel conducted their annual flying at RNZAF Base Wigram. In 1937 the Territorial Squadrons were re-organised and No. 2 Squadron became the Wellington Territorial Squadron.
14 Squadron RNZAF is a squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. In 2015 the squadron was re-raised and equipped with 11 Beechcraft T-6 Texan II. A new aerobatic display team called the Black Falcons was also formed using the new aircraft. They replaced the RNZAF display team known as the Red Checkers.
RNZAF Base Woodbourne is a base of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, located 8 km west of Blenheim. Today, Woodbourne is the Air Force's only support base and has no operational squadrons based there. It shares its runways with the Blenheim civil airport, Woodbourne Airport.
RNZAF Base Auckland is a Royal New Zealand Air Force base located near the upper reaches of the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. The base formerly comprised two separate airfields, Whenuapai and RNZAF Station Hobsonville. Hobsonville was established as a seaplane station in 1928 and was the RNZAF's primary flying boat base in New Zealand until 1967.
RNZAF Base Ohakea is an operational base of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Opened in 1939, it is located near Bulls, 25 km north-west of Palmerston North in the Manawatū. It is also used as an alternate airport for civilian aircraft. The base's motto is Defensio per vires.
No. 488 Squadron was the name given to two distinct Royal New Zealand Air Force squadrons during the Second World War. Both were formed under Article XV of the Empire Air Training Scheme and served under the operational command of the Royal Air Force.
John Gordon Pattison, DSO, DFC was a New Zealand fighter pilot and squadron commander of the Second World War.
RNZAF Security Forces is the Royal New Zealand Air Force unit responsible for base security, ground defence, weapons training, and Air Transport Security on RNZAF aircraft. RNZAF Security Forces operates under the RNZAF Operations Squadron.
Reginald Joseph Cowan Grant, was a New Zealand flying ace of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in the Second World War.
Air Vice-Marshal Cyril Eyton Kay,, known as Cyrus Kay, was a New Zealand aviator and military leader. Born in Auckland, Kay joined the Royal Air Force in 1926 for a five-year period of service, during which he attempted to break the record for the fastest flight from England to Australia. He remained in aviation in civilian life and was a participant in the MacRobertson Air Race of 1934.
Central Flying School is the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) unit which is responsible for training the force's flight instructors. It was established at the start of World War II as the Flying Instructors School and assumed its current name 1941. The unit was stationed at RNZAF Base Wigram from 1945 until 1993 when it moved to RNZAF Base Ohakea.
No. 488 Wing was the wing of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) with responsibility for commanding all units based at RNZAF Base Ohakea. It was established in December 2010 and disbanded in March 2015.
John Noble MacKenzie, was a New Zealand flying ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He was officially credited with the destruction of nine enemy aircraft.
Air Vice-Marshal Ian Gordon Morrison, was a New Zealand aviator and military leader who served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the Second World War. He later served as the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) of the RNZAF.
Robert Lawrence "Peter" Spurdle was a New Zealand flying ace of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. He was credited with the destruction of ten enemy aircraft.
Air Vice Marshal William Hector Stratton, was a New Zealand aviator and military leader during the Second World War and the postwar period.