An aircraft flyover in central Masterton will help open a 75th Anniversary Battle of Britain service in the town next week.
The Rev Ted Dashfield will lead the commemorative service that will be opened by the flyover at 5pm on Sunday, September 20, depending on the weather.
Rev Dashfield, who served as part of the J-Force in the 22nd Battalion and is chaplain for Masterton RSA, said addresses will be given at the St Matthew's Church service by Tom Williams, president of the New Zealand Sport and Vintage Aviation Society, while No21 Squadron Air Training Corps commanding officer Flight Lieutenant Karen Stevens and cadets will assist.
New Zealand lost the third highest number of air force service personnel after Poland and Britain, Rev Dashfield said, and "the whole of history and the whole of Christian civilisation, in a way, turned on that battle".
Rev Dashfield said Wairarapa men to have served in the Royal Air Force included the late Mick Shand, who flew in the Battle of Britain, and bomber command captain Ian Sutherland, and other New Zealanders who played a vital roll in the historic air battle.
