Alan McGregor Peart, (25 July 1922 – 5 September 2018) was a New Zealand fighter pilot and
flying ace
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. He served in Europe with
No. 610 Squadron, and with
No. 81 Squadron in North Africa, Malta, Sicily, Italy and the Far East. He is credited with the destruction of six enemy aircraft, plus a share in another aircraft destroyed. He is also notable for having shot down aircraft from all three main Axis powers—Germany, Italy and Japan.
Early life
Alan McGregor Peart was born in
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
, New Zealand, on 25 July 1922.
[ He was educated at the Hamilton Technical High School, and played rugby. After completing his schooling, he worked as a draughting cadet at the ]Tauranga
Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...
branch of the Department of Public Works
This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure.
See also
* Public works
* Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...
. He also served in the Territorial Force
The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...
, as a private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
in the Hauraki Battalion.
Second World War
Peart joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in May 1941. According to his memoirs, he was selected to be trained as a bomber pilot but protested to the commander of the flying school. He successfully advocated that he be sent for training as a fighter pilot instead. After completing his training, he was sent to England to serve with the Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
. He received further flight training at Hullavington
Hullavington is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, just to the north of the M4 motorway. The village lies about southwest of Malmesbury and north of Chippenham.
The Fosse Way, a Roman road, forms the western boundary of the par ...
and then proceeded to No. 55 Operational Training Unit at Annan in Scotland, learning to operate the Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...
fighter.
In June 1942, Peart was posted to No. 610 Squadron with the rank of sergeant pilot
A sergeant pilot was a non-commissioned officer who had undergone flight training and was a qualified pilot in the air forces of several Commonwealth countries before, during and after World War II. It was also a term used in the United States A ...
. Commanded by Squadron Leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...
Johnnie Johnson, the squadron operated the Supermarine Spitfire fighter. He was involved in numerous sorties to continental Europe, including providing aerial cover for the Dieppe Raid in August, until November when he was transferred to No. 81 Squadron, at the time based in Algeria and operating Spitfire Vbs from Maison Blanche, near Algiers.
Mediterranean
On 1 December, Peart destroyed an Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.84
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.84, not to be confused with the Savoia-Marchetti S.84 airliner prototype, was an Italian bomber aircraft of World War II. It was designed by Savoia-Marchetti as a replacement for its successful SM.79, and shared its thr ...
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...
over Bone Harbour and damaged another. On 31 December he damaged a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter while flying the personal aircraft of Wing Commander
Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
Petrus Hugo
Petrus Hendrik Hugo, (20 December 1917 – 6 June 1986) was a South African fighter pilot and flying ace in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.
Early life
Petrus Hendrik Hugo was born 20 December 1917 on the farm Pampoenpoort ...
. The following year, the squadron's Spitfire Vbs were replaced by the superior Spitfire IX. By this time Peart had been commissioned and was now a pilot officer. On 23 April 1943, he damaged a Bf 109 and two days later destroyed another near Medjez-el-Bab. Soon afterwards, the squadron shifted to the island of Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
and began flying operations to Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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, demographi ...
and Italy as the Italian campaign commenced. Some of the squadron's Spitfires had to be exchanged with the older Spitfire Vcs.
During the invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...
on 10 July, No. 81 Squadron helped protect the landings. While on patrol on 16 July, No. 81 Squadron encountered a dozen Bf 109s; Peart damaged one of them, when flying one of the older Spitfire Vcs. A few days later, the squadron began operating from Sicily itself. While escorting Douglas Boston
The Douglas A-20 Havoc (company designation DB-7) is an American medium bomber, attack aircraft, night intruder, night fighter, and reconnaissance aircraft of World War II.
Designed to meet an Army Air Corps requirement for a bomber, it was or ...
bombers over the Gulf of Saint Euphemia
The Gulf of Saint Euphemia ( it, Golfo di Santa Eufemia or Golfo di Sant'Eufemia, la, Lametikos Kolpos or Vibonensis Sinus) is a gulf on the west coast of Calabria, southern Italy. It is part of the Tyrrhenian Sea and borders the province of Cosen ...
on 28 August, Peart, back in a Spitfire IX, was among eight Spitfires that fended off an attack by a group of Bf 109s, destroying one of them in the process. On 13 September, when leading a flight of six Spitfires, he helped two other pilots destroy one of three Dornier Do 217
The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II as a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the ''Fliegender Bleistift'' (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937 and 1938 as a heavy bombe ...
bombers attacking Allied shipping near the beachhead at Salerno. Afterwards he had to land at Salerno due to an overheating engine. He caught a ride back on a Douglas C47 transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...
back to his airfield.
Burma
In November 1943, No. 81 Squadron was transferred to India, re-equipped with Spitfire VIIIs. It arrived at the front, at Imphal
Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the f ...
, in January the following year. The Japanese invaded India on 4 February and the squadron sought to achieve air superiority, flying forward to temporary airstrips from which they operated during the day, returning to Imphal at night. On 13 February, Peart damaged two Nakajima Ki-43
The Nakajima Ki-43 ''Hayabusa'' (, "Peregrine falcon", "Army Type 1 Fighter" ) is a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in World War II.
The Allied reporting name was "Oscar", but it was o ...
fighters, known as Oscars. In March 1944, Peart was one of six pilots sent with their aircraft to an airstrip, named Broadway, in the jungle to support the operations of the Chindits
The Chindits, officially as Long Range Penetration Groups, were special operations units of the British and Indian armies which saw action in 1943–1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II.
The British Army Brigadier Orde Wingate form ...
. The following day, 30 Japanese Oscar fighters attacked the airstrip but forewarned, the Spitfires were already airborne and able to shoot down four of the enemy aircraft plus damaged others. Three days later, on 16 March, the Spitfires intercepted a group of Oscars, with Peart destroying one and damaging another. Poor weather later in the day saw the Spitfires fly to Imphal, returning the next day. On landing, they were surprised by several enemy fighters. Four of the Spitfires were destroyed and a pilot killed but Peart and his squadron commander took off in time. Both claimed one Oscar each as destroyed. It was decided to abandon the airstrip and provide support for the Chindits from Kangala instead.
The Japanese advance caused No. 81 Squadron to withdraw from Imphal and commence operations from Kumbhirgram, escorting transports into the Imphal valley and endeavouring to maintain air superiority. On 17 April he claimed one Oscar as destroyed and another damaged. He recorded 24 combat patrols for April and 20 for the first two weeks of May before he was withdrawn and sent to take a course at No. 1 Air Fighting Training Unit. In June 1944, Peart's award of the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) was announced. The citation for his DFC, published in ''The London Gazette'', read:
Soon after being awarded the DFC, Peart completed his course and returned to No. 81 Squadron as a qualified instructor. However in August, just over a month after his return, the squadron was withdrawn to Ceylon for a rest. Peart was posted to India where he took command of a fighter conversion and tactical flight, based at Poona. Due to illness, he was repatriated back to New Zealand in February 1945. On recovering his health, he briefly served as an instructor and was discharged from the RNZAF later that year with the rank of flight lieutenant. He ended the war credited with the destruction of six enemy aircraft, a share in a seventh destroyed and nine damaged.
Later life
Returning to civilian life Peart gained a degree in engineering from the University of New Zealand
The University of New Zealand was New Zealand's sole degree-granting university from 1874 to 1961. It was a collegiate university embracing several constituent institutions at various locations around New Zealand. After it was dissolved in 196 ...
in 1949. He then worked as a civil engineer for the Ministry of Works. Among the projects he worked on were the construction of the Maraetai Power Station and the Auckland International Airport
Auckland Airport is the largest and busiest airport in New Zealand, with over 21 million passengers in the year ended March 2019. The airport is located near Māngere, a residential suburb, and Airport Oaks, a service hub suburb south of th ...
. He retired in 1982. He was involved in veteran's affair, being the president of the Burma Star Veterans association for a time. In his later years, he wrote a book on his wartime experiences, which was titled ''From North Africa to the Arakan'' and published in 2008.[ He was featured in a documentary film, released in 2018, about the Spitfire. He died on 5 September 2018.][
]
Notes
References
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External links
Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph Record: Alan McGregor Peart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peart, Alan
1922 births
2018 deaths
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel
New Zealand World War II flying aces
People from Hamilton, New Zealand
People from Nelson, New Zealand
Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)