FEARLESS
– The extraordinary untold story of New Zealand's Great War airmen by Adam
Claasen. Published by Massey University Press, Auckland, 2017
If the work being put into the First World
War Centenary History publications achieves nothing more than to publish this
book Fearless then it will have been
well worthwhile.
Dr Adam Claasen's achievement is all the
more meritorious because it fills a gap that should have been filled many years
ago.
It is well known that the history of New
Zealand's First World War is poorly served, especially when compared to the
effort that went into recording the Second World War histories, flawed as they
may be. Possibly it was to avoid the situation after WWI that so much was put
into the WWII coverage.
Whatever the story may be, there can be no
doubting the worth of Claasen's work which in spite of the years between
remains a compelling record of service, devotion, spirit and yes, sacrifice, of
those who took to the air to fight between 1914 and 1918.
Remember war broke out just over 10 years
after man's first powered flight achieved by the Wright brothers and just over
five years and a week after Frenchman Louis Bleriot flew the English Channel.
That the technology could expand so quickly to become a fighting weapon is extraordinary
for the era.
That New Zealanders, so far removed from
the developments in flight, should become so taken with it is little short of
amazing, but then again in the wake of engineering achievements in other
spheres it should not be a surprise.
However, the stories of these men who
numbered around 850 by Claasen's study, most them pilots, some observers or
gunners and others - various odd bods working as mechanics or other subsidiary
roles - is compelling and readable.
The casualty rate does not make it an easy
read but the achievements of these trailblazers cannot be under-estimated.
There had been little Government support
for the benefits of flight – it was too early in its development to have been
of interest as a means of speeding communication in the eyes of politicians.
Some things do not change.
But the entrepreneurial spirit was alive,
even in those early years and men like Henry Wigram, a businessman who had
turned to politics, could see the benefits to be had but he couldn't sway fellow
politicians who were still enamoured of the benefits of naval power.
Claasen describes flight's battle for
acceptance in the pre-war years in New Zealand, producing highly readable
accounts of some of the daredevil antics which proved so fascinating to
citizens able to witness their flights.
It is in this area that the reviewer
regrets two facts which emerge in the book, purely on a personal basis.
The first was the fact that New Zealand's
first cross-country aircraft flight occurred on February 20, 1914 between
Invercargill and Gore by Will Scotland. It was also the first flight in the
South Island and was the first 'town to town' flight achieved in New Zealand.
Not a word of it passed my eyes in my Gore High School history studies in
Southland.
Scotland went on up the South Island to
buzz a cricket match between Canterbury and Australia, The Press noting after the fall of a wicket, "Bishop went in,
but the appearance of the flying machine caused a stoppage for some time."
Nor was there anything taught about the
Gore lawyer Ron Bannerman who would become New Zealand's best fighter ace in
the last year of the war.
These things weren't talked about often in
that day and age, but they were surely worth more acknowledgment by the local
community. Has there ever been an official plaque laid to mark the achievement?
Like this book, perhaps it is not too late to mark the feat.
Back to Wigram. He set up one of two flying
schools in New Zealand at the airport in south Christchurch which soon bore his
name while in Auckland two brothers Vivian and Leo Walsh set up the New Zealand
Flying School at Kohimarama. As Claasen points out, the onset of war only
hastened the interest in flying and as he relates those who couldn't gain their
training in New Zealand headed off to England to qualify. And from some of the
battlefields, especially in the Middle East, there was no lack of volunteers to
turn to flying.
What resulted was a significant
contribution to the war effort, sadly not all of it was successful, and the loss
of life, much of it due to lack of time for proper training, was horrendous.
But it was the intrepid approach of the New
Zealanders, and others, which caught the imagination of the British and French.
It is difficult to imagine the demands and dangers of night flying to take on
the monstrous Zeppelins dropping bombs on England. Yet they not only took on
the gas-fired behemoths but flew home to land in the dark.
Then there are the battles and operations
over the Western Front, an area of conflict that advanced exponentially as the
war continued due to the tactical advantages that could be gleaned from aerial
observation.
Claasen has done an admirable job in
scouring through all available resources to piece together some remarkable
stories of heroism and rather than single out individuals in this review it's
best left to the reader to admire the selflessness and courage of those who
aspired to be part of this new form of warfare, often at the cost of their
lives.
Fearless is precisely that, a story of which all New Zealanders should be
acquainted because it is a sad yet powerful example of service that should
never be forgotten. Claasen has lent even more strength to the phrase of
remembrance 'Lest We Forget'. For 100 years the aviators may have been
forgotten but not any more.
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