News

It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the sad news that Peter Wheeler QSM passed away following a long illness. Peter had put enormous time into running the New Zealand Bomber Command Association, running events, producing our newsletter, and visiting the Bomber Boys around the country. Peter's funeral will take place on Tuesday 27th of May and 10.00am, at Morrison's Funeral Home, Universal Drive, Henderson, Auckland.

For the thousands of New Zealanders serving with the RAF in Britain, Victory in Europe - VE Day – on 8 May 1945 was a day of triumph, reflection, and bittersweet emotion. While proud of their contribution, they remembered their comrades who would not return home.

When NZBCA Veterans Affairs Office Barabra Hunter learned that a new Bomber Command documentary was in preparation, and the directors wanted to interview a New Zealand veteran, she knew just the person.

"The First Flight" is the little-known story of the New Zealand Squadron, a small ferry flight unit set up in England by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in June 1939 to fly brand new Vickers Wellington bombers halfway round the world. Now this story is told in a new book by NZBCA member, Chris Newey.

Bruce and Alison Hebbard recently travelled to the UK and Norway to join commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the bombing of the German battleship Tirpitz. Their father, Loftus (Lofty) Hebbard was one of the New Zealanders that flew on Operation Catechism, the mission on 12 November which finally resulted in the sinking of Tirpitz.

A new monument for all the missing airmen lost over the North Sea has been unveiled in Egmond aan Zee, the centre of the so called “Gap”, in the Netherlands. The memorial is created from five hundred identity tags formed into an image of an airman.