NZ Jet commander dies

Max Hope, the airman who commanded New Zealand's first jet squadron and took it to Cyprus in the early 1950s, has died at the age of 87.

Group Captain Sidney Maxwell Hope was a flight lieutenant when he was posted in October 1951 to lead 14 Squadron at Ohakea flying Vampires, single-engined fighters.

Group Captain Hope, who was awarded the Air Force Cross and made an MBE, is survived by three sons and a daughter.