Louisa Hormann

Operation Ice Cube – the RNZAF on the ice

As the C-130H Hercules retires from RNZAF service, we remember Operation Ice Cube I – the first RNZAF Hercules flight from Aotearoa to Antarctica, and the legacy which continues today.

Grid: The Life and Times of First World War Fighter Ace Keith Caldwell by Adam Claasen

How to research your family history online

Heavy and Continuous Sacrifice: New Zealand, her Allies and the Second World War edited by Peter Cooke and John Crawford

This recently published collection of essays explores different aspects of New Zealand’s Second World War, including New Zealand airmen serving in Malaya and Singapore.

New Zealand Air Force – Uniforms, Clothing, Badges and Personal Equipment 1923-1948 by Barry O’Sullivan

From our Reading Room series: From boots, badges, and buttons to gloves, goggles and gas masks, this tome is richly illustrated and an essential reference for researching the uniforms of New Zealand’s air force. Read all about it here.

Into Wind… The birth of the RNZAF by Brian Lockstone

This book by the late Brian Lockstone covers the immediate period leading up to the formation of the RNZAF, and as such, makes great background reading for our latest exhibition, NZPAF100: The Origins of New Zealand Air Power.

For Your Tomorrow by Errol W. Martyn

With Anzac Day approaching, what better book to restart our Reading Room blog series than For Your Tomorrow by Errol W. Martyn.

Love Letters: Messages of Love in Wartime

These examples from our collection relate to the lives and loves of three New Zealanders serving in the RAF and RAF Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) during World War Two.

Combating Disease: Public health efforts in the RNZAF

Public health is all about protecting against community health risks and threats, preventing illness, and promoting health and wellbeing across the population or within groups of people. This blog looks at how the New Zealand military has historically promoted public health messages amongst its personnel, using examples from the RNZAF.

A Sense Of Humour

Humour is a subject not often raised in the area of military history. Yet some of the strongest traditions and cultural legacies of military service – including those of our own Air Force – are full of inside jokes in line books, silly songs, famous (and infamous) fictional cartoon characters and countless visual gags.
Read the full story here.