WAIKATO PILOTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 295, 18 April 1941, Page 5

WAIKATO PILOTS

SQUADRON BOUGHT BY DOMINION FUNDS UNIT OF ROYAL AIR FORCE The New Zealand Fighter Squadron of the Royal Air Force, which is to use 25 Spitfires purchased, with funds raised in the Dominion, \s mentioned by one of the pilots posted to the new squadron, Ser-geant-Pilot H, L. Thomas, in a let- * ter to his parents, Mr and Mrs H. T. Thomas, of Mission Bay, Auckland. The warplanes were bought with £156,800 submitted in New Zealand last year, and are to be flown by the New Zealand Fighter Sauadron. All the pilots will be New Zealand- * ers, and their commanding officer will be Squadron-Leader M. W. Knight, of Dannevirke, who joined the Royal Air Force some years ago. Appropriate Names The 25 Spitfires purchased will be named after the provinces which raised the money. There will be Auckland 1, 2, 3 ? 4 and 5; Wellington 1, 2 and 3; Southland 1, 2 and 3; Canterbury 1 and 2; and Marlborough, West Coast and Nelson 1. Others will be named New Zealand 1, 2 and 3; Northland, Waikato and Country Women. The last is the Spitfire bought with £5000 raised by the Women's Division of the Farmers' Union. The letter "N.Z." 1 , will be inscribed after the name of each fighter.

Sergeant-Pilot Thomas In his letter said 16 pilots, all New Zealanders were posted from units all over England to found the new squadron, the "baby" of the Royal Air P'oroe. "Imagine my surprise and delight when I found I was one of them."' he added. On transferring to the new squadron, he found that he knew most of the ]>ilots, including; G» Francis, W. Wells, A. Shaw anr| J. Money.