In close formation, a Vought Corsair (top), P40 Kittyhawk and North American Harvard.
In close formation, a Vought Corsair (top), P40 Kittyhawk and North American Harvard.
A 99-year-old World War II fighter pilot will be reuniting this week with a model of the plane he flew during the war - one he said most people wouldn’t touch “with a barge pole”.
Leon (Pip) Piper is planning to attend Wings over Wairarapa this weekend to see a Goodyear FG-1D Corsair, 78 years after he last flew one for the Royal New Zealand Airforce.
World War II veteran Leon (Pip) Piper will be visiting Wings over Wairarapa this weekend to see the Corsair, a model of the plane he flew in the war. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
DeMarco was jailed for fraud in 2019 after selling off some of Jackson’s vintage planes to pay off his own debt.
Piper hopes to get a photo with the plane at the airshow, which is running at Hood Aerodrome in Masterton from November 24 to 26.
During the war, he was based first at Green Island, near Australia, and later at Jacquinot Bay in Papua New Guinea.
In an extract from a programme marking the 70th anniversary of New Zealand’s war in the Pacific, Piper explained he and his fellow pilots had to land the Corsairs on “huge metal plates” due to the “bog-like nature of the ground”.
“Our job in 1945 was to make sure that the Japanese base in Rabaul was contained enough to be ineffective as a fighting unit. Rabaul was the key base in the plan to invade New Zealand.”
He said they flew in groups of four Corsairs, bombing around Cape Gazelle and the wider Rabaul area to minimise Japanese activity.
Born in Lower Hutt, Piper now lives in the Wellington suburb of Crofton Downs. He told the Herald he enjoyed flying the Corsairs, but that many people “wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole”.
Sir Peter Jackson leaves the High Court at Wellington after giving evidence in the trial of fraudster Eugene DeMarco. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
He will attend the airshow with multiple generations of his family, including his grandson and great-grandson.
Piper’s son, Simon, said his father often spoke of how difficult the planes were to fly.
The owner of the Corsair that will be flown at Wings over Wairarapa this year, Mike Jones, said the planes were difficult to handle due to their powerful 2,000hp engines. Pilots who struggled to manage the controls during take-off and landing could “end up in the ditch”.
“It was the absolute pinnacle of technology at the time,” Jones said, noting the Corsair had a kill rate of 11 for one, meaning 11 Japanese planes were shot down for every Corsair.
Jones said his Corsair had not seen combat as it went into service around the time the Japanese surrendered in 1945.
Its pilot at the airshow is one of only a handful in New Zealand who could fly Corsairs. Jones knew of only three people who could do so, one of whom was retired.
Pilots are rated per aircraft, and very few had a rating to fly this one, he said.
It was “absolutely awesome” that the Corsair could be flown at the airshow this year, and the aircraft was “running better than it has since I’ve known it, probably since it’s been in New Zealand”.
Wings over Wairarapa was supposed to run in February this year, but was postponed due to Cyclone Gabrielle.
Other highlights include the Avro Anson MK 1, the only flying Anson in the world. Designed as a maritime reconnaissance bomber, it was one of the Royal Air Force’s most important types when WWII began.
Crowd favorite the Strikemaster will return - the ex-RNZAF BAC 167 was used for the advanced phase of pilot training on the Wings Course. The British training and light attack aircraft was operated by the RNZAF from 1972 as a lead-in trainer for the A4 Skyhawks.
The Royal New Zealand Airforce will showcase its new P-8A Poseidon, as well as the Black Falcons aero display.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
