“I was thinking about how far we’ve come. You know, we stood up in times of war – and everyone who has been through conflict since then – and we shut our doors in times of peace.

Osbourne, the uncle of former All Black Glen Osborne, said he understood the decision at the time.

“It was easy to say that there is a fighter force that has done nothing, that has not gone to war or gone into battle for anyone. Let’s get rid of it.

Osborne said disbanding 75 Squadron might have been prudent at the time, but the world was now in a strategic autumn.

“Think Game of Thrones. Winter is coming. I think we need to prepare ourselves in New Zealand and Australia for things to get worse,” he said.

Osborne left the RNZAF after the squadron disbanded and joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a commodore.

He served in both air forces for a total of 42 years.

“So, 20 years here, and I just did 22 years there.”

Flying alone, with no safe return

Simon Moody, research curator at the New Zealand Air Force Museum, said the squadron was originally an RAF unit made up mainly of New Zealanders flying to Nazi Germany, where they would suffer the second highest number of casualties of any bomber squadron.

“They lost very badly. But conversely, they also dropped something like the second (highest) tonnage (bombs) on enemy territory.

New Zealand bombers account for about 56% of all deaths within Bomber Command, he said.

These men entered enemy territory and accomplished many heroic exploits, often alone, without any protection.

“Until that time, most operations took place at night, so they moved alone, flying towards the target, sometimes in groups.”

“But above all, on their own and moving independently towards the target.”

They were joined by Australians, British, Canadians and South Africans, but the bulk of the squadron was made up of Kiwis, Moody said.

The most famous of this courageous group is Victoria Cross recipient Sergeant James Allen Ward, who on the night of July 7 was the second pilot of a Wellington bomber.

The bomber was part of a raid on Munster, Germany, and on the way back, passing over the Netherlands, a Messerschmitt 110 night fighter attacked their aircraft.

The rear gunner engaged the German plane, returning fire, but not before the Wellington’s starboard wing was hit. This caused a fire due to a ruptured fuel pipe near the starboard engine and quickly spread.

The Wellingtons had a unique design with a lightweight, fabric-covered geodesic frame. This allowed the crew to create openings in the fuselage to fight fires, using fire extinguishers and, when these ran out, coffee in their flasks.

After this failure, Ward devised a bold plan. The RAF pilot volunteered to jump from the plane to put out the fire, using an engine cowling the crew had on board as an extra seat cushion.

He considered riding the wing without a parachute to reduce the force of the wind on him, but his fellow aviators convinced him that it was a bad idea.

With a rope from the onboard lifeboat tied around his waist, he climbed through the hatch to the top of the Wellington then put on his parachute.

He positioned himself behind the engine to extinguish the wing fire, using the engine cowling to protect himself from the flames.

On arrival at RAF Station Feltwell, England, Ward was nominated for the Victoria Cross by the Squadron Commander, Wing Commander Cryus Kay.

“A safe landing was subsequently carried out despite the damage sustained by the aircraft. The return flight was made possible by the valiant action of Sergeant Ward who extinguished the fire on the wing under extremely difficult circumstances and at great risk to his life,” his citation reads.

Ward did not return home; he was shot down over Hamburg two months later, on September 15, 1941, at the age of 22. He is buried in the Hamburg Cemetery in Ohlsdorf, Germany.

Coming home

The squadron flew various types of bombers during the war, including the Anson Mk1, Wellington Mk1, Short Stirlings, Lancaster bomber and Lincoln MkII.

Towards the end of the war the squadron was converted into part of the new Tiger Force, a very long-range bomber force proposed to fight the Japanese in the Pacific War.

The unit was disbanded after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria ended the war. Squadron personnel were slowly flown home.

“They were part of the RAF system, but still working with New Zealand, but not part of the New Zealand armed forces until after 1946,” said Air Vice Marshal, CB OBE, John Hosie.

Hosie began his service in the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1959 and was involved in the Malayan Emergency, during which communists attempted to overthrow the colonial administration.

Hosie flew with the 75th and 14th Squadrons, eventually training flight instructors to teach other pilots how to fly – which wasn’t too difficult, he said.

“You were dealing with experienced pilots.

“You did it under the assumption that we were all beating the same drum. Otherwise people would have their own ideas.

“That’s what you do with fear.”

Like their fellow World War II aviators, countless stories are etched in the squadron’s collective memory, including that of Squadron Leader Jim Jennings, who played a key role in the incident of Kin Nan in 1976.

The Kin Nan, a 50m squid boat, was owned by a Taiwanese company and arrived illegally in New Zealand waters in December 1975.

Two Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) patrol vessels, the Taupo and the Hawea, finally spotted the Kin Nan on 30 March 1976. The ship was ordered to stop but ignored the order.

Yet Flight Lieutenant Jennings and his fellow airmen were flown in their Skyhawks from Oheka Air Force Base in Manawatū.

Jennings and his squadron were ordered to follow the ship’s movements, but they ignored warning shots from the Navy ships.

Then, pulling the trigger, Jennings stopped the ship with warning shots across the bow.

When he sat in the Skyhawk seat, it was never about being fearless, Jennings said.

“It was never about not being afraid. It was about what you did with fear,” he said.

“It’s about going and doing it anyway, even if you were scared.”

It would be the only time a Skyhawk fired a shot in anger on New Zealand soil.

-SunLive