During the Great War, 1914-1918, New Zealanders were keen participants
in the new field of military aviation. Close to 850 men, and a small
number of women, from the Empire's southernmost dominion sought
positions in the British and Australian air services. Drawing on
extensive archival material, historian Dr Adam Claasen explores New
Zealand's reluctance to embrace military aviation, the challenges facing
the establishment of local flying schools and the journey undertaken by
the New Zealanders from their antipodean farms and towns to the
battlefields of the Great War. In spite of their modest numbers the New
Zealanders' wartime experiences were incredibly varied. Across the
conflict, New Zealand aviators could be found flying above the sands of
the Middle East and Mesopotamia, the grey waters of the North Sea, the
jungles of East Africa, the sprawling metropolis of London and the
rolling hills of northern France and Belgium. Flying the open cockpit
wood-and-wire biplanes of the Great War, New Zealanders undertook
reconnaissance sorties, carried out bombing raids, photographed enemy
entrenchments, defended England from German airships, strafed artillery
emplacements and engaged enemy fighters. By the time the war ended many
had been killed, others highly decorated, some elevated to 'ace' status
and a handful occupied positions of considerable command. This book
tells their unique and extraordinary untold story.
