RNZAF Tiger Moth, Harvard join Air Force Museum
Collections manager Darren Hammond said both aircraft had fascinating back
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Otago Daily Times
18-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Battle-damaged log books back together again
Sergeant Charlie Cronk's log book and other possessions were sent back to his family after he was killed during a landing when his plane crashed into a fuel tanker in India four months later. Now his great-nephew, Gradon Conroy, who lives in Christchurch and has had the log book since 2005, has decided it is time to pass it on to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Wigram. His grandmother Marjorie Prince, Kronk's sister, gave it to him when she moved into a rest home for safekeeping. "Donating the log book is a great way to share his story and preserve his memory. The logbook was a prized possession in the family," he said. Kronk, 23, was posted to No 243 Squadron RAF in Singapore in late 1941. Made up mostly of New Zealand pilots, the squadron was equipped with obsolete Brewster Buffalo fighters. Their airfield at Kallang came under heavy bombing and a strafing attack from the Japanese in January 1942, as they softened up the British stronghold in preparation for the invasion which would come less than a month later. While on patrol, Kronk and New Plymouth pilot Bert Wipiti intercepted a lone Japanese Ki-46 Dinah reconnaissance aircraft at high altitude. The pair split up and targeted an engine each, firing both firing bursts into the aircraft's twin-engines and sending it to the ground. When he was later interviewed by American war correspondent George Weller, Kronk said: "I came up from underneath and saw the big body of the plane with its great red circles on the wing right over my head. "Then I pressed the tit and emptied everything I had into her. "I kept firing until all my ammunition was gone. "She was burning all the way to the ground." And in an uncanny coincidence, Kronk's log book has the same damage caused by shrapnel or a bullet as the log book of Kiwi airman and Nelson pilot from 243 squadron in Singapore, Flying Officer Maxwell Greenslade, which is also now in the possession of the Air Force Museum of NZ. "When he stacked the two log books on top of each other, the damage lined up perfectly. "It was quite exciting actually. Very rarely can you make a connection like this." Conroy said it was thought the two log books were on top of each other in the adjutant's hut when Kallang airfield came under attack. Conroy said news of Kronk's death would have been tough on his mother, Mary. She had lost her husband two years earlier, and her eldest son, Wally Kronk, was overseas serving in the army. "Wally came back and lived a life, so a lot of the family stories were more about him, but they were both family heroes." Conroy said not a lot is known about his great-uncle. "We only know him from his belongings, which were sent back, and from what grandma told us." He was very proud of him, with a number of reports describing him as fearless in the face of the enemy.
National Business Review
19-05-2025
- National Business Review
RNZAF Tiger Moth, Harvard join Air Force Museum
Two former RNZAF aircraft – a de Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth (NZ662) and a North American Harvard (NZ1015) – have been transferred from RNZAF Base Ohakea to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand at Wigram, Christchurch. Collections manager Darren Hammond said both aircraft had fascinating back
NZ Herald
08-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Veteran pilot Derek Williams retires after decades of Anzac Day flyovers
Now he is retiring. Where it all started At the end of World War II, Williams saw the Americans build the Waharoa aerodrome close to his hometown of Matamata and a passion for flying was born. An 18-year-old Williams obtained his private licence in 1955, eventually acquiring enough hours in the cockpit to qualify for a commercial licence in 1960. He gained his licence in the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth, he said. Despite having qualifications as a commercial pilot, he never entered the Royal New Zealand Air Force; instead, he enrolled in the New Zealand Army during the 20th Compulsory Military Training. 'It bugged me, I had my commercial licence and they did not even look at me.' Despite that, Williams said he enjoyed his time in the army as a radio operator and gunner in Valentine tanks. 'It taught you discipline, you learnt to behave yourself.' The New Zealand Government discontinued the programme in 1972. Williams served three months in the army before finding work as a top-dressing pilot in 1961. He amassed more than 592,000 take-offs and landings and sprayed 363,448 tonnes of fertiliser across 57,000ha. A top-dressing pilot is a specialised agricultural pilot who flies aircraft (usually small fixed-wing planes) to spread fertilisers, lime or sometimes seeds over farmland. He retired from top-dressing in 2014, after 53 years on the job. 'I was 77 when I retired, now at 87, I am an old b***tard.' During his career, Williams top-dressed in Malaysia and delivered and flew planes to Norfolk Island and the Solomon Islands. Advertise with NZME. All the while escaping the odd crash, he said. In 2000, he wrote off a Fletcher plane in Cambridge. 'The engine seemed to lose power, and I left the strip. I hit something, and it went all dark. When I stopped, I thought I must be dead. 'But I opened the canopy, the engine was ripped out, and I had gone through a trough, and the muck on the bottom had covered the aeroplane.' A second crash in 2001 in Northern Borneo resulted in his plane bursting into flames. 'It was on fire within about 20 minutes and was a heap of ashes.' The early years of top-dressing were a dangerous time; 100 pilots died during 1949-1980, he said. Anzac Day flyovers Williams flew over the Mount Maunganui Dawn Service for 35 years before becoming president of the Mount RSA in 2016. His first Anzac Day fly-by was in 1980. He did a handful more following his stint as Mount RSA president, but could not get behind the controls as his medical clearance was revoked this year. 'I had to get a mate to fly the aeroplane.' Williams wants to get his medical clearance back but is unsure how that conversation with the doctor will go. 'The doctor said to me. How many pilots at 87 are still flying?' Williams said. 'How the hell would I know?'
