No. 5 Squadron RNZAF is a

maritime patrol {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008 Maritime patrol is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to ac ...

and

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. It operates the Boeing P-8 Poseidon from

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, 25 km north-west of Palmerston North in the Manawatu. It is also a diversion landing point for civilian aircraft. The bas ...

. The squadron was formed during 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 ...

and has since been in continuous operation. A number of maritime patrol aircraft have been operated by the squadron over the course of its existence including the

Short Singapore The Short Singapore was a British multi-engined biplane flying boat built after the First World War. The design was developed into two four-engined versions: the prototype Singapore II and production Singapore III. The latter became the Roya ...

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wi ...

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North Ea ...

and the

Lockheed P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.. From the outbreak of hostilities with Japan, the squadron operated the Short ''Singapore'' Mk.IIIs (transferred in October 1941 from

No. 205 Squadron RAF No. 205 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit formed on 1 April 1918. Prior to this it had existed as No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). In 1929, it became the first RAF squadron to be permanently based in Singapore, taking as i ...

) mainly on

and anti-submarine duties, rescuing more than fifty survivors of ditched aircraft and successfully attacking a Japanese submarine in the process with the elderly ''Singapores''. These types were superseded by Consolidated PBY ''Catalinas'', which aided the air-sea rescue capability. The squadron moved from Fiji in late 1944 to operate between

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...

and the

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-co ...

. During this time the later conqueror of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reache ...

, served with the squadron. In November 1944, the squadron moved to

Luganville Seaplane Base Luganville Seaplane Base is a former World War II seaplane base in the Segond Channel between the islands of Espiritu Santo and Aore Island in the New Hebrides Islands at the Espiritu Santo Naval Base. History World War II The first bases on E ...

on Espiritu Santo to carry out anti-submarine patrols and escort dutyRoss 1955, p. 277 In August 1945, the squadron was withdrawn to Fiji.Ross 1955, p.314

Cold war

Following the war, the squadron was re-equipped with 16 Short ''Sunderland'' MR.5s and based at Laucala Bay, in the suburbs of Suva, Fiji, tasked with maritime surveillance "over the vast

South Pacific Ocean South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

, medical evacuation flights, and communications flights for the colonial administrators." From 1965, the squadron relocated to

Whenuapai Whenuapai is a suburb and aerodrome located in northwestern Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Waitematā Harbour, 15 kilometres to the northwest of Auckland's city centre. It is one of t ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, to re-equip with five Lockheed P-3B ''Orion''s in the anti-submarine role. The squadron withdrew its last flight of ''Sunderlands'' from Laucala Bay in 1967. The P-3B fleet was upgraded in the mid 1980s (Project Rigel) with a more modern radar (APS-134), an IRDS camera, a digital computing bus, and electronic displays/information management system. They were subsequently redesignated P-3K. A sixth aircraft was purchased from the RAAF during the Project Rigel upgrade. No. 5 Squadron won the Fincastle Trophy for anti-submarine work on a number of occasions, although in recent years the focus has shifted from anti-submarine warfare to broader maritime patrol and search and rescue missions.

Twenty-first century

AK 05-0170-33 - Flickr - NZ Defence Force

The aircraft have been deployed to assist international efforts on several occasions. From May 2003 to February 2004, a detachment operated in support of Operation Enduring Freedom by patrolling the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

and Gulf of Oman. In October 2004, a contract was signed with L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, of the United States, to upgrade the aircraft's communication, navigation and surveillance, and data management systems. The contract also included an upgrade of crew training, software testing and integration facilities, and mission preparation and analysis systems. In 2005, the first of the six P-3K ''Orions'' began being upgraded to the new P-3K2 standard, modernising the

avionics Avionics (a blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fit ...

and mission systems. In January 2006, No. 5 Squadron conducted trials to prove the aircraft could operate from

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. This would improve capabilities to better police illegal fishing, and the trial occurred at a time when New Zealand was under pressure to intervene in the increasingly heated dispute between Greenpeace,

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action tactics to achieve its g ...

, and Japanese commercial

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industr ...

ships. In 2006, an ''Orion'' was used to photograph

Raoul Island Raoul Island (''Sunday Island'') is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity ...

after a small volcanic eruption killed a Department of Conservation (DOC) worker. On the 2 May 2011, the RNZAF accepted the first upgraded P-3K2 ''Orion'' from the Ministry of Defence. The aircraft is due to undergo a period of Operational Testing and Evaluation (OT&E) before commencing active use. Following the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH-370 in March 2014, an RNZAF P-3K2 ''Orion'' was deployed to

RAAF Base Butterworth RMAF Butterworth ( ms, TUDM Butterworth) is an active Air Force Station of the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) situated from Butterworth in Penang, Malaysia. It is currently home to the ''Headquarters Integrated Area Defence System'' (HQIADS ...

to assist with the search for the Boeing 777. The ''Orion'' aircraft and crew was then re-tasked and conducted their operations from

RAAF Base Pearce RAAF Base Pearce is the main Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base in Western Australia. The base is located in Bullsbrook, north of Perth. It is used for training by the RAAF and the Republic of Singapore Air Force. Pearce is ...

near

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, searching the Southern Indian Ocean for MH-370 alongside other international aircraft and crews. As of March 2015, all six RNZAF P-3K2 ''Orions'' are fully operational after their comprehensive upgrades. In December 2015 the final aircraft and crew rotation returned from a 16-month operation deployed to the Middle East. The deployment supported

Combined Maritime Forces United States Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) is the United States Navy element of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM). Its area of responsibility includes the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, and Arabian Sea. It consists of the ...

in maritime security, anti-terrorism, anti-narcotics, and anti-piracy operations. The detachment completed over 170 missions and flew over 1400 hours. The category five Tropical Cyclone Winston caused widespread damage to Fiji in February 2016. A RNZAF P-3K2 ''Orion'' was launched and conducted reconnaissance flights less than 24 hours after the cyclone had devastated the archipelago. The imagery captured from the P-3K2 ''Orion'' was published widely to raise international awareness of the humanitarian situation. This imagery was instrumental in determining the needs of the worst-hit areas in hours, rather than the days usually required for traditional ground surveys. P-3K2 ''Orion'' aircraft conducted multiple surveys in 2017 of the

Ambae Ambae Island, also known as Aoba, Omba, Oba, or Opa and formerly Lepers’ Island, is an island in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, located near , approximately north-northwest of Vanuatu's capital city, Port Vila. History First ...

volcano, located in the Vanuatu archipelago, following increasing levels of volcanic activity. This information was used to assist the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office in preparation for major volcanic eruptions. A P-3K2 ''Orion'' was deployed to the Pacific in January 2018 following the sinking of the

MV Butiraoi The MV ''Butiraoi'' was a wooden catamaran that operated as a ferry in Kiribati. On 18 January 2018, it left the island of Nonouti carrying 88 passengers. Bound for Betio, the ferry was planned to make the voyage in two days. According to s ...

, a Kiribati ferry carrying over fifty passengers. Seven survivors were located drifting in a dinghy, and their rescue was coordinated by the P-3K2 crew. In the seven years from 2010 to 2017, P-3K2 search and rescue operations have saved 119 lives, rescued 92 people, and assisted 67 people. In February 2018 the final aircraft and crew rotation returned from a further deployment to the Middle East. Over the course of the deployment 135 missions and over 1000 hours were flown supporting Combined Maritime Forces. The deployment worked towards improving maritime security in the region, preventing piracy, and narcotics and weapons smuggling. During the deployment information provided by the P-3K2 ''Orion'' led to the seizure of over $700 million of heroin. A P-3K2 ''Orion'' and crew were deployed to Japan in Sep-Oct 2018 and again in Oct-Nov 2019 to help implement

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

resolutions against North Korea. The P-3K2 flew alongside international partners to detect maritime activity that contravened UN sanctions, in particular, ship-to-ship transfers. The Government announced in October 2020 its decision to again deploy a P-3K2 Orion long-range maritime patrol aircraft to support implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. This was New Zealand’s third deployment of a P-3K2 following previous deployments during October- November 2019 and in September–October 2018. In October 2021, 5 squadron retired its first P3K2 orion (NZ4203) the following year they retired another P3K2 Orion (NZ4206), throughout the years 2022 and 2023 5 squadron plans to retire all the orions with the arrival of the first Boeing P-8A Poseidon in December 2022. All the retired P3K2 orions will be sent down to woodbourne air force base

Replacement for Orions

In April 2017 it was revealed that the New Zealand Government was considering buying four Boeing P-8A ''Poseidon'' maritime patrol aircraft from the United States to replace the ''Orions''. On 9 July 2018 the government confirmed the purchase, with the ''Poseidon'' to be delivered and operational by 2023, requiring relocation of the squadron to RNZAF Base Ohakea.

Photo gallery

File:Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Short S.19 Singapore CH2556.jpg, The Short ''Singapore'' III flying boat. File:5 Squadron RNZAF Catalinas.JPG, No. 5 Sqn Consolidated ''Catalinas''. File:RNZAF Catalina taxing.JPG, A No. 5 Sqn ''Catalina'' in the immediate post war period. File:P-2 P-5 Sunderland Corregidor 1963.jpg, No. 5 Sqn Short ''Sunderland'' with USN P-5 ''Marlin'' and RAAF P-2 ''Neptune'' in 1963. File:RNZAF Short Sunderland MoTaT 2007.JPG, An ex-No. 5 Sqn ''Sunderland'' at New Zealand's

Museum of Transport and Technology The Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) is a science and technology museum located in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. It is located close to the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Zoo and the Western Springs Park. The museum has l ...

(MoTaT). File:P-3B RNZAF USN MirageIII RAAF 1983.jpeg, No. 5 Sqn P-3Bs during a 1982 exercise with USN and RAAF units.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * *

External links