Airman determined to help the war effort

Sub-Lieutenant Cyril Lamb in May, 1918 - he was just 18 years old.

At just 17, Cyril Lamb entered the Royal Naval Air Service to train as an airship pilot. Roger Moroney speaks to his son Eric Lamb of Taradale.

Like many fathers home from war, Cyril Lamb never spoke much about his brief taste of World War I.

Which his son, Eric Lamb of Taradale, simply summed up as "regrettable".

Because he would have had some interesting tales to tell, given that at the tender age of just 17 he entered the Royal Naval Air Service and was appointed Temporary Pilot Officer as he took on the early stages of learning to fly - airships.

Airships which were used for submarine spotting and bombing during convoy and reconnaissance duties.

But his first steps were aboard the craft he learned to fly in - helium-filled balloons.

Eric Lamb was just a young lad when World War II broke out and saw little of his father, who was tasked with Home Guard and fire watch duties.

"And in 1947 I went to boarding school, so again didn't see too much of him."

When he did, the question about his dad's nine months of wartime service between February 2, 1918 and November 6, 1918 (a patrol just five days before war's end) never came up.

"All I know is from his flying logbook."

Cyril Lamb, given his young age and the fact that when war ended he was still just 18, clearly wanted to do his bit.

"I don't know why he went for the naval air service," Eric said.

His training began at Roehampton, southwest of London, and involved balloons.

His first aerial expedition was on February 27, 1918, aboard an "FB" balloon which had the name of "Muriel".

The one hour and four minute flight was commanded by pilot SH Mabbott and he was one of four trainees who went aloft on a misty morning in 16-knot easterly winds as passengers.

His training was eventful as the balloons were not exactly the most adaptable aircraft.

One one occasion, they were forced to discard ballast to clear trees in low visibility.

Another time, they made a quick descent to 400ft and ballast was thrown out.

They had to fling more bags over the side to maintain a safe altitude but it continued to descend, and there was no clear good landing area in sight.

So they threw out ropes, covers - anything to get altitude.

They did not and, after drifting over a stream, ended up setting down in a private garden.

"No great damage," he wrote in his log.

By April 4 he was ready for the airships as a crewman.

They were SS (Sea Scout) type, designed as submarine spotters. They were 42 metres long and had a top speed of 80km/h, the propeller power coming from a 75-horsepower Renault/Rolls Royce motor.

One of the SS class airships Cyril Lamb flew during the final stages of World War I.

There were circuits and altitude tests, often in strong winds, which made landing challenging.

In his log for April he noted: "Took control for 45 minutes - landing made in 25mph wind on second attempt."

He began taking the controls for longer stints and began building up solo hours, and had done 17 before embarking with his crew for patrol duty.

One July 4, on a mission from the Anglesey base on the northwest coast of Wales, his crew spotted a German submarine and called it in.

There were two destroyers nearby, which homed in, using the directions from Sub Lieutenant Lamb's airship.

"Destroyer dropped depth charges - sighted oil rising and air bubbles - no further trace."

Two weeks later, they spotted another submarine in the Irish Sea and went after it themselves.

"Dropped bomb - no result."

Missions were pretty much daily as they escorted ships and went sub hunting.

On October 11 they had the grim task of spotting, and in some cases, recovering bodies from the ship Leinster, which had been torpedoed.

Their last wartime patrol mission was November 6, 1918 but he remained in service with the Royal Naval Air Service until early in 1919.

"We came out to New Zealand in 1949, when I was 16," Eric Lamb said.

"Dad got a job with Industrial Gases in Wellington."

He eventually bought an orchard in Hawke's Bay in 1960 and Eric, after much travelling and working in accountancy, also came to the Bay.

Cyril Frank Lamb died a few years later, and Eric and his mother ran the orchard until 1980. "It was sad he died relatively young but he had some colourful times."