Final sortie for NZ's last combat pilots

On May 1 1955, rockets and ammunition were unleashed over Malaya by the Royal New Zealand Air Force No 14 Squadron as part of Operation Firedog.

Flight Lieutenant Stuart McIntyre led a five-strong de Havilland Vampire jet strike, part of Commonwealth air force operations against communist terrorists.

Five days later, accompanied by four Vampires, Mr McIntyre carried out the first ever airstrike in a de Havilland Venom.

The Venom superseded the Vampire which was withdrawn from service by February 1956.

The 78-year-old was among 71 pilots and ground crew from No 14 Squadron that assembled at Base Woodbourne yesterday for their final formal reunion. The group included seven Marlburians.

The airmen, all aged 70 years or older, are meeting to recount operational deployments of the squadron to Cyprus 1952 to 1955 and Singapore 1955-1957. The fighter squadron was the last from the RNZAF to have engaged the enemy in combat.

Mr McIntyre, from Wellington, remembers flying high above the Malayan jungle while a low-flying aircraft marked a drop zone with smoke flares.

"When we saw the smoke put down we'd go in with the attack," he said.

The aircraft went in one after another and fired their rockets, before returning again with a barrage of ammunition.

"You could see the flash when the thing exploded and the cloud of smoke that came out of it."

Because the jungle was dense the enemy was well hidden, but "we hoped that we were hitting some bad guys. I wouldn't have liked to be under us".

It was a small operation compared with later missions where he remembers seeing the jungle "erupt" from the force of explosions.

A typical Firedog mission involved a section of four Venoms, each armed with two 454kg bombs or rocket projectiles and 600 rounds of 20mm cannon.

Mr McIntyre said it was a great time to be in the air force and the No 14 Squadron was full of "tremendous people with great spirit".

"Look at this. After 50 years all these blokes are still meeting up," he said.

Because of political decisions, the modern RNZAF served a different purpose. "Air force is force. You're there to impose yourself on someone if you can, but I'm sure whatever they are doing they'll be doing it bloody well."

- The Marlborough Express