Every war the Royal New Zealand Air Force has fought
Much of New Zealand’s air war of 1939–1945 was fought inside the RAF, and NZHistory’s figure of 3,635 RNZAF dead covers every theatre together. Air-combat claims, such as the 99 Japanese aircraft credited to its Kittyhawks, are the RNZAF’s and the Air Force Museum’s; Japanese records were not checked. Since 1945 its part has been mostly strike, airlift and supply, and the Bougainville entry records only the RNZAF’s presence in the truce monitoring effort, not any party’s claims about the conflict. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From Bomber Command and the Solomons to the Kabul evacuation in 2021.
| סְתִירָה | שנים | נֶגֶד | מטוס ראשי | גיחות | מטוס אבד | |
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| Second World War: Bomber Command and the RAFNo. 75 (NZ) Squadron and the Empire Air Training SchemeRNZAF aircrew in Royal Air Force squadrons | 1939–1945 | גרמניה ואיטליה | וולינגטון, Stirling, Lancasterועוד אחד | |||
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Supplied aircrew to the RAF, including No. 75 (NZ) Squadron and six other New Zealand-identified squadrons in Bomber, Fighter and Coastal Commands. New Zealand’s largest air war was fought inside another country’s air force. When war broke out, about 420 New Zealanders were already serving in the RAF, and the 30 Wellington bombers New Zealand had ordered were offered to Britain with their crews; they became No. 75 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF, which went on to fly Stirlings, Lancasters and Lincolns in Bomber Command. Through the Empire Air Training Scheme a further 7,002 New Zealand airmen joined RAF squadrons, NZHistory says; more than 2,700 pilots were trained in New Zealand and about 7,000 New Zealanders trained in Canada. By 1944 more than 6,000 were in the United Kingdom. Seven RAF squadrons carried a New Zealand identity: Nos 75 and 487 in Bomber Command, 485, 486 and 488 in Fighter Command, and 489 and 490 in Coastal Command. Three RNZAF airmen won the Victoria Cross — James Allen Ward, Leonard Trent and Lloyd Trigg. In October 1946 the RAF formally handed the 75 Squadron title and badge to the RNZAF. תוֹצָאָה Germany surrendered in May 1945. In October 1946 the RAF handed the 75 Squadron title and badge to the RNZAF in recognition of its wartime record. Bomber Command casualty figures for New Zealanders were not confirmed in the sources reached.
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| Second World War: the Pacificthe Solomons and RabaulRoyal New Zealand Air Force | 1941–1945 | יַפָּן | Hudson, Ventura, קיטיהוקועוד 5 | |||
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Fighter, bomber-reconnaissance, torpedo, flying-boat and transport squadrons under US command in the South Pacific, from Guadalcanal to the campaign against Rabaul. Pearl Harbor turned a training and coastal-patrol air force into a fighting one. In 1941 the RNZAF had 641 aircraft, most of them obsolete; the first modern ones were 36 Hudsons. Kittyhawks arrived under Lend-Lease in 1942, and No. 3 Squadron’s Hudsons were in action over Guadalcanal the same year. In 1943 Nos 15 and 14 Squadrons took Kittyhawks to Guadalcanal and a New Zealand Fighter Wing was formed; the Air Force Museum credits the RNZAF’s Kittyhawks with 99 Japanese aircraft destroyed in air combat and 14 probables. From 1944 Corsairs replaced them, operations centred on Bougainville and Rabaul, and the force reached its peak of around 42,000 personnel and 1,336 aircraft. At its height in the Pacific the RNZAF had 34 squadrons, 25 of them outside New Zealand: 13 of Corsairs, six of Venturas, two each of Catalinas, Avengers and Dakotas. Catalina crews of No. 6 Squadron are credited with rescuing 79 servicemen in 25 air-sea rescue missions. תוֹצָאָה Japan surrendered in August 1945; more than 7,000 RNZAF personnel were in the Solomon Islands on VJ Day. Air-combat claims are the RNZAF’s and the museum’s; Wikipedia notes later research raising the Kittyhawk total to 100. Japanese records were not checked.
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| Malayan EmergencyMalaya and SingaporeRoyal New Zealand Air Force | 1949–1960 | Malayan Communist Party guerrillas | C-47 Dakota, Vampire FB.5, Venom FB.1ועוד 2 | 115 | ||
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Supply drops by Dakotas from 1949; ground-attack strikes by No. 14 Squadron’s Vampires and Venoms from 1955; Canberra bombing by No. 75 Squadron from 1958. The RNZAF went back to war in South-East Asia within four years of the Japanese surrender. From 1949 No. 41 Squadron’s Dakotas were attached to the RAF’s Far East Air Force, dropping supplies to troops and police in the jungle: by late 1951 they had flown 211 sorties and dropped 284,000 kg, according to Wikipedia. In 1955 No. 14 Squadron moved from Cyprus to Singapore. On 1 May 1955 five of its Vampires, led by Flight Lieutenant Stuart McIntyre, took off from Tengah against guerrillas in the Malayan jungle — the RNZAF’s first combat strike since the Second World War and its first in jets, NZHistory says. The squadron re-equipped with Venoms and flew 115 strike missions in three years before No. 75 Squadron relieved it in May 1958 with Canberras, nine of which operated from Tengah until 1962. NZHistory describes the Emergency as the response to the Malayan Communist Party’s attempt to overthrow British colonial rule. תוֹצָאָה The emergency was declared over in 1960. The aircraft type of the first strike is given as Vampires by NZHistory; the No. 14 Squadron article dates re-equipment with Venoms to the move to Singapore in 1955, so the type used on individual missions in 1955 may vary.
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| Indonesia–Malaysia ConfrontationBorneoRoyal New Zealand Air Force | 1964–1966 | אִינדוֹנֵזִיָה | Canberra B(I).12, Bristol Freighter | |||
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No. 14 Squadron’s Canberras deployed to Singapore as a deterrent bomber force; No. 41 Squadron’s Bristol Freighters dropped supplies to British and New Zealand troops in Borneo. Wikipedia describes Confrontation as Indonesia’s attempt to wrest control of the North Borneo territories from Malaysia. New Zealand joined Britain and Australia in defending Malaysia from 1964. NZHistory says No. 14 Squadron deployed to Singapore with six Canberra bombers; the squadron history dates its move to RAF Tengah to September 1964, with detachments to Labuan, Gong Kedak and Kai Tak, and its return to Ohakea to November 1966. The bombers were held as a deterrent and are not recorded in the sources checked as striking Indonesian targets. The busier RNZAF unit was No. 41 Squadron in Singapore, whose Bristol Freighters flew regular resupply flights into Borneo, dropping food and equipment to British and New Zealand troops on jungle operations. תוֹצָאָה Indonesia and Malaysia signed a peace agreement on 11 August 1966; New Zealand’s involvement ended in October 1966. Whether the Canberras flew any combat missions was not confirmed in the sources checked; the text above says only what they record.
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| Vietnam WarHercules, Freighters, Iroquois pilots and forward air controllersRoyal New Zealand Air Force | 1965–1975 | North Vietnam and Viet Cong | C-130H Hercules, Bristol Freighter, UH-1 Iroquois (RAAF) | |||
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Transport flights for New Zealand forces by No. 40 Squadron Hercules and No. 41 Squadron Freighters; RNZAF pilots flew Iroquois with No. 9 Squadron RAAF and forward air control with the USAF. New Zealand’s air contribution to Vietnam was small and mostly logistic. Hercules of No. 40 Squadron flew into South Vietnam from July 1965, within months of entering service, and Bristol Freighters of No. 41 Squadron flew supply missions throughout the war. From 1967 RNZAF pilots flew combat helicopter missions with No. 9 Squadron RAAF — the Air Force Museum says 16 pilots from No. 3 Squadron flew Iroquois in assault, troop transport, resupply and casualty evacuation between 1967 and 1971 — while others served as forward air controllers with the United States Air Force. NZHistory puts the number of RNZAF pilots who served in Vietnam in 1967–1971 at 30. More than 3,000 New Zealand military and civilian personnel served in Vietnam between 1963 and 1975. The RNZAF’s last flight out, on 21 April 1975, carried 38 embassy staff and refugees. תוֹצָאָה The last No. 41 Squadron flight left on 21 April 1975 with embassy staff, including the New Zealand ambassador, and refugees, shortly before the fall of Saigon. RNZAF pilot numbers differ: 16 helicopter pilots with No. 9 Squadron RAAF (museum, Wikipedia) and 30 RNZAF pilots in all, including forward air controllers (NZHistory).
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| מלחמת המפרץמבצע סופת מדברRoyal New Zealand Air Force | 1990–1991 | עִירַאק | C-130H הרקולס | |||
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Two Hercules joined the coalition’s airlift. NZHistory records that two RNZAF Hercules joined the Allied coalition in the Persian Gulf in 1991. Transport rather than combat aircraft would remain its contribution to coalition operations in the decades that followed. The RNZAF returned to the Gulf for peace support in 1998. תוֹצָאָה Iraq was expelled from Kuwait in February 1991. Exact deployment dates and sortie numbers were not confirmed in the sources checked. |
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| Bougainville peace monitoringTruce Monitoring GroupRoyal New Zealand Air Force | 1997–1998 | |||||
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Air support to the regional truce monitoring effort that followed the Bougainville conflict. NZHistory lists Bougainville in 1997–1998 among the RNZAF’s peacekeeping deployments. The conflict on Bougainville between 1988 and 1998, fought between Papua New Guinea’s security forces and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, is one on which the parties’ accounts of conduct and casualties differ; this entry records only the RNZAF’s presence in the regional monitoring effort and does not repeat any party’s casualty or conduct claims. תוֹצָאָה The truce monitoring phase ended in 1998. Sparse: the aircraft types, numbers and tasks of the RNZAF detachment were not confirmed in the sources reached. Casualty claims about the wider conflict are deliberately not repeated.
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| East Timor (INTERFET and UN missions)Timor-LesteRoyal New Zealand Air Force | 1999–2002; 2007–2008 | UH-1H Iroquois, C-130H Hercules | ||||
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Iroquois helicopters of No. 3 Squadron and Hercules transport for the Australian-led INTERFET force and the UN missions that followed. NZHistory lists East Timor in 1999–2002 and again in 2007–2008 among the RNZAF’s deployments, and the Air Force Museum records that its preserved Iroquois served in Timor-Leste. No. 40 Squadron’s Hercules supplied New Zealand forces there. תוֹצָאָה East Timor became independent in 2002; the RNZAF returned in 2007–2008. Iroquois numbers and dates for each rotation were not confirmed in a fetched source.
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| אפגניסטןfrom Enduring Freedom to the Kabul evacuationRoyal New Zealand Air Force | 2001–2021 | הטליבאן | C-130H הרקולס | |||
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Hercules airlift for coalition and New Zealand forces from 2001; a Hercules flew in the August 2021 evacuation from Kabul. NZHistory records that RNZAF Hercules deployed to Afghanistan in 2001, the year the air combat force was disbanded — a reminder of what the government had chosen to keep. In August 2021, as Kabul fell, the RNZAF flew in the evacuation from Kabul. Air Vice-Marshal Darryn Webb listed Kabul in 2021 among the Hercules fleet’s short-notice evacuation tasks when the C-130H retired in 2025. תוֹצָאָה New Zealand’s Afghan mission ended in 2021; the RNZAF flew in the Kabul evacuation in August 2021. Deployment details for 2002–2020, NZ casualty figures for the Afghan mission and the number of people evacuated in 2021 were not confirmed in the sources reached, so none is given. |
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שום דבר לא תואם את החיפוש הזה.
כל נתון, נבדק
- Air Force Museum of New Zealand: The Mighty Hercules exhibitionFirst C-130H arrived 14 April 1965; two more arrived January 1969; first RNZAF flight to Antarctica by NZ7003 on 27 October 1965; Vietnam from July 1965; NZ7001 (33,000+ hours) landed at the museum 19 February 2025.
- Air Force Museum of New Zealand: English Electric Canberra B(I).12Thirteen Canberra B(I).12 operated 1959-1970 from Ohakea; Confrontation 1964-1966; all 13 sold to the Indian Air Force when the Skyhawk arrived.
- Air Force Museum of New Zealand: Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk297 Kittyhawks, 1942 to mid-1944; eight squadrons; 99 Japanese aircraft destroyed and 14 probables; replaced by Corsairs.
- Air Force Museum of New Zealand: Lockheed Hudson Mk III94 Hudsons 1941-1942; Nos 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9 Squadrons; replaced by the Ventura 1943-1944.
- Air Force Museum of New Zealand: Bell UH-1H Iroquois NZ3801Five UH-1D in 1966 and nine UH-1H in 1970; No. 3 Squadron for 49 years; 16 No. 3 Squadron pilots with No. 9 Squadron RAAF in Vietnam 1967-1971; service in Timor-Leste.
- Air Force Museum of New Zealand: Bristol 170 Freighter Mk.31MTwelve, 1951-1955, No. 41 Squadron; South-East Asia from 1955; Operation Scorpion in Thailand 1962; withdrawn 1977; last flight 16 March 1978.
- NZHistory: RNZAF overview 1913-1945NZPAF of 1923 with 11 full-time staff; 756 full-time personnel in September 1939; 7,002 airmen into RAF squadrons via the Empire Air Training Scheme; peak of around 42,000 in 1944; 5,300 by mid-1946.
- NZHistory: RNZAF overview 1946-2012Berlin airlift; Cyprus 1952-1955; 115 strike missions 1955-1958; Confrontation; 30 RNZAF pilots in Vietnam 1967-1971; peacekeeping list; 1991 review and Wigram closure; 2001 disbandment; 2002 upgrades.
- NZHistory: RNZAF timelineYear-by-year milestones: 1,336 aircraft and 42,000 personnel in 1944; 3,635 RNZAF killed in the Second World War; two Hercules in the 1991 Gulf war; Hercules to Afghanistan 2001.
- NZHistory: RNZAF’s first combat strike since the Second World War1 May 1955: five No. 14 Squadron Vampires from Tengah against guerrillas in Malaya, led by Flt Lt Stuart McIntyre; 115 strike missions in three years.
- NZHistory: NZ and Confrontation in BorneoNo. 14 Squadron with six Canberras in Singapore; No. 41 Squadron Bristol Freighter supply drops in Borneo; 12 New Zealanders died in South-East Asia 1964-1966.
- NZHistory: The Vietnam WarRNZAF helicopter pilots with No. 9 Squadron RAAF and forward air controllers with the USAF from 1967; more than 3,000 New Zealanders served 1963-1975; 37 died on active service; last RNZAF flight out in April 1975.
- NZHistory: New Zealanders in the air (D-Day)Over 6,000 New Zealanders in the UK with the RAF by 1944; seven RAF squadrons with New Zealand identity: 75 and 487 (Bomber Command), 485, 486, 488 (Fighter Command), 489, 490 (Coastal Command).
- RNZ: Royal NZ Air Force to retire C-130H Hercules fleet (30 January 2025)Retirement on 31 January 2025 after 60 years, 155,000 hours and 100,000 landings; Air Vice-Marshal Darryn Webb on Antarctic rescues and Kabul 2021.
הנתונים אומתו בתאריך 1.10.2026. Back to the Royal New Zealand Air Force.