No. 485 Squadron RNZAF
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Manned by New Zealand pilots of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, but controlled by the Royal Air Force, 485 Squadron was formed on 1 March 1941 at Driffield, in Yorkshire. Equipped with various marks of Supermarine Spitfire throughout its existence, No. 485 squadron was initially based on home defence duties with Fighter Command at various bases in Wales and England, but from March 1944 became a fighter bomber unit within the Second Tactical Air Force. In August 1944, 485 moved to France, then subsequently forward airfields in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. The unit returned to England and was disbanded in October 1945.
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[edit] Achievements
485 Squadron flew over 10,000 sorties. The unit claimed 63 enemy aircraft destroyed. During the short period that the squadron was employed against ground targets pilots destroyed 70 motor vehicles and 5 railway engines. 24 DFCs or DFMs were won by members of the squadron.
[edit] Preserved aircraft
- Ex 485 Spitfire MkIXc, OU-V / ML407, in which Johnnie Houlton shot down a Junkers Ju 88 (the first German aircraft on D-Day), converted to a two seat trainer, was restored by Nick Grace and is flown by his widow Caroline.
- MkIXc MK732 has been restored in post war Dutch colours as PH-OUQ. It flew with 485 Squadron as OU-Q 'Baby Bea IV' and OU-U "Baby Bea V" taking part in D-Day and Operation Market Garden and in the hands of Flying Officer Patterson shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 on June 8 1944.
- Spitfire MkXVIe TE288 is preserved at the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum at Wigram, painted in the unit's colours to represent an aircraft operating inside Germany shortly prior to VE day, (TE288 did not see active service).
[edit] Motto
485 Squadron's motto is Ka whawhai tonu ('We will fight on').
[edit] References
Two squadron histories have been published;
- Kevin W. Wells An Illustrated History of the New Zealand Spitfire Squadron Hutchinson, New Zealand, 1984, ISBN 0-09-159360-3
- Paul Sortehaug and Phil Listemann, No. 485 (N.Z.) Squadron 1941-1945 "Spitfire" ISBN 295263810-1 (90 Page Booklet)
One pilots biography is;
- Jack Rae, Kiwi Spitfire Ace, 2001, Grub Street, ISBN: 1902304780
A relevant pilot autobiography;
- Col. James R. Haun, Spitfire Wingman from Tennessee (esp. Chapter 11) 2006, Stormwatch Press, ISBN: 978-0-9790002-0-1
[edit] A note on New Zealand Squadrons in the RAF
It is now largely accepted that World War II squadron of the Royal Air Force manned by pilots of the Royal New Zealand Air Force are recorded by the formulation 488(NZ) squadron RAF, however some authors (e.g. Bill Gunston), have used the formulation 488 squadron RNZAF. At the time, New Zealand still considered itself part of the British Empire, and its citizens simultaneously New Zealanders and British. Contemporaneous documents therefore refer to the squadron as an RAF squadron, and as an RNZAF squadron sometimes within the same document, not only because no contradiction was perceived, but because there WAS no contradiction. Between 1939 and 1941 the RNZAF could be argued to have seen its role as training pilots for the New Zealand squadrons of the RAF, just as New Zealanders prior to the onset of war served not with the Royal New Zealand Navy but the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy. This of course changed when the RNZAF developed a large combat arm actively fighting in the southern Pacific, and controlled by the New Zealand Governmen and when Britain stopped creating 'bracket' squadrons and instead created Royal Air Force Squadrons only squadrons of airmen mixed from Commonwealth and other allied nations.
[edit] External links
The crest from this Squadron was adopted in the late 1960s as the official crest for the then formed RNZAF Strike Wing, based at RNZAF Base Ohakea, North Island, New Zealand. This wing incorporated 75 Sqn (Vampires) and 14 Sqn (Canberras).
