New Zealand’s Air Force: Then & Now

1 x 46 mins

Prime time documentary, Sky TV (Prime), 2020

Our Air Force - Then & Now gives a hitherto unseen insight into the joy and jeopardy of being a Royal New Zealand military pilot, both past (WW2) and present.

From fighting over the skies of France in a spitfire on D Day and night bombing raids in Lancasters over Germany to flying low over the Southern Ocean to monitor New Zealand’s waters in P3 Orions and landing on the ice runway at Antarctic in the Boeing 757.

181 Wings Course: November 2019, RNZAF Base Ohakea

The documentary also follows a Wings Course as we see the difficulties of passing this challenging course. Not all students can pass - it’s a huge rate of learning that is expected of them.

The World War Two men share their memories of flying in war time. The daily death toll they tried to avoid being a part of, the camaraderie they shared with their fellow squadron members, the unquestioning service to King and Country. They are quite simply an extraordinary group of men and their stories (told in a low key, humble manner) are equally so.

We see what the RNZAF of today does as we join crews mountain flying through the beautiful Southern Alps in the NH90s, low fly in the P3s Orions searching for fishing trawlers, and join parachuters jumping out the back of the C-130 Hercules. And then there’s Antarctica… serene but somewhat scary because the weather needs to be on your side to be able to land (with no divert airfields).

While New Zealand has a small Air Force internationally speaking, it has always been hugely well respected for what it delivers. That has a lot to do with the quality of the people and the Kiwi way of operating, as this documentary shows.

Researched, written, co-directed and produced by Jude Dobson - seen below with Malcolm Sines (cinematographer, editor and co-director) on the ice.