{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Pilot Training Squadron based at

RNZAF Base Ohakea RNZAF Base Ohakea is an operational base of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Opened in 1939, it is located near Bulls, New Zealand, Bulls, 25 km north-west of Palmerston North in the Manawatu District, Manawatu. It is also a diversion landin ...

, and trained

RNZAF The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeal ...

pilots from 1966 until 2015.

Origins

Military pilot training during World War I was undertaken by private contractors; principally the

New Zealand Flying School The New Zealand Flying School was formed in 1915, by the Walsh Brothers, Leo and Vivian, to train pilots for the Royal Flying Corps. The school flew a fleet of home-built and imported flying boats from Mission Bay on Auckland's Waitemata Harbo ...

of the

Walsh Brothers The New Zealand Flying School was formed in 1915, by the Walsh Brothers, Leo and Vivian, to train pilots for the Royal Flying Corps. The school flew a fleet of home-built and imported flying boats from Mission Bay on Auckland's Waitemata Harbo ...

in Auckland and the Canterbury Aviation Company formed by

Henry Wigram Sir Henry Francis Wigram (18 January 1857 – 6 May 1934) was a New Zealand businessman, politician and aviation promoter. He is best known for his role in developing a public transport system in Christchurch and as a key player in the establishme ...

in Christchurch. When the New Zealand Permanent Air Force was formed in June 1923, war surplus

Avro 504 The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...

K and Bristol F2B Fighters transferred from Britain were used for training purposes, supplemented from 1929 by

de Havilland Gypsy Moth The de Havilland DH.60 Moth is a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. Development The DH.60 was developed from the larger DH.51 biplane. ...

s and replaced from 1931 by

Hawker Tomtit The Hawker Tomtit is a British training biplane from the late 1920s. Design and development The Royal Air Force in 1927 required a replacement for their current elementary trainers, the elderly Avro 504Ns. They specified that the power plant sh ...

s and

Avro 626 The Avro 626 is a single-engined British biplane trainer aircraft produced by Avro during the (1918-1939) inter-war period. Design and development The Model 626 was developed by Avro from the company's Model 621 (Tutor) for export to smalle ...

s. A single two seat

Gloster Grebe The Gloster Grebe was developed by the Gloster Aircraft Company from the Gloster Grouse (an experimental aircraft later developed as a trainer), and was the Royal Air Force's first post- First World War fighter aircraft, entering service in 1 ...

provided conversion training on that type. in anticipation of the delivery of

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

bombers, twin engine monoplane training began on the first of 229

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...

s in 1938.

World War II

By the outbreak of

World War II 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 opposin ...

the more modern of these types had been formed into No. 1 Flying Training School RNZAF at

Wigram Wigram is a suburb in the southwest of Christchurch, New Zealand. The suburb lies close to the industrial estates of Sockburn and the satellite retail and residential zone of Hornby, and has undergone significant growth in recent years due to h ...

, while advanced training on types such as the Oxford had been separated. Due to the

Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zea ...

, other schools were under construction at Taieri, and Woodbourne. A large number of additional FTSs followed with the first few years of the war, while from 1939 335

de Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...

s manufactured in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

provided the main primary trainers. Until 1941 much advanced training was done on retired combat types such as the

Hawker Hind The Hawker Hind was a British light bomber of the inter-war years produced by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force. It was developed from the Hawker Hart day bomber introduced in 1931. Design and development An improved Hawker Hart bomber d ...

Vickers Vildebeest The Vickers Vildebeest and the similar Vickers Vincent were two very large two- to three-seat single-engined British biplanes designed and built by Vickers and used as light bombers, torpedo bombers and in army cooperation roles. First flown i ...

and

Fairey Gordon The Fairey Gordon was a British light bomber (2-seat day bomber) and utility aircraft of the 1930s. The Gordon was a conventional two-bay fabric-covered metal biplane. It was powered by variants of the Armstrong Siddeley Panther IIa engine. A ...

but these were gradually replaced by 202 locally assembled

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

Post war

After the second world war, primary flying training was conducted by No.1 Flying Training School at Taieri, and from 1956

. The Tiger Moths were phased out, Harvards being used for ab intio training,

de Havilland Devon The de Havilland DH.104 Dove is a British short-haul airliner developed and manufactured by de Havilland. The design, which was a monoplane successor to the pre-war Dragon Rapide biplane, came about from the Brabazon Committee report whi ...

and two seat

De Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...

s being used for advanced training. 1 FTS became the Pilot Training Squadron in 1966. The squadron received a small number of

AESL Airtourer The Victa Airtourer is an all-metal light low-wing monoplane touring aircraft that was developed in Australia, and was manufactured in both Australia and New Zealand. Design and development The Airtourer was the winning design, submitted by Henr ...

in 1970 and re-equipped with Pacific Aerospace CT-4B Airtrainers in 1976, these subsequently being replaced by more powerful CT-4Es. Advanced training on

BAC Strikemaster The BAC 167 Strikemaster is a British jet-powered training and light attack aircraft. It was a development of the Hunting Jet Provost trainer, itself a jet engined version of the Percival Provost, which originally flew in 1950 with a radial p ...

and

Aermacchi MB-339 The Aermacchi MB-339 is a military jet trainer and light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Italian aviation company Aermacchi. The MB-339 was developed during the 1970s in response to an Italian Air Force requirement that sought a re ...

shifted to

No. 14 Squadron RNZAF 14 Squadron RNZAF is a squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. In 2015 the squadron was re-raised and equipped with 11 Beechcraft T-6 Texan II. A new aerobatic display team called the Black Falcons was also formed using the new aircraft. The ...

, twin engined training on

Fokker Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

s and later Cessna Golden Eagles and

Beechcraft Super King Air The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketed as the "Super King Air" family; the "Super" designation was dropped in 1996. ...

s being undertaken by

No. 42 Squadron RNZAF No. 42 Squadron is an active transport squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). It was formed at Rongotai Airport (Wellington) in December 1943 to provide a communications service around New Zealand, initially using impressed civili ...

. No. 3 Squadron undertook basic rotary training with the

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first he ...

. When Wigram closed in 1993 the squadron shifted to

Ohakea RNZAF Base Ohakea is an operational base of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Opened in 1939, it is located near Bulls, 25 km north-west of Palmerston North in the Manawatu. It is also a diversion landing point for civilian aircraft. The ba ...

. Pilot Training Squadron was disbanded in 2015 with the retirement of the Airtrainer. Its role was taken over by a reformed No. 14 Squadron which operated the replacement

T-6 Texan II The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is a single-engine turboprop aircraft built by the Raytheon Aircraft Company (Textron Aviation since 2014). A trainer aircraft based on the Pilatus PC-9, the T-6 has replaced the United States Air Force's Cessna T ...

External links

RNZAF Squadron Web page
Royal New Zealand Air Force squadrons Flying training squadrons Training units and formations of air forces Military units and formations established in 1966