15 Oct 2017

New Zealand’s airmen in the Great War

From Sunday Morning, 10:06 am on 15 October 2017

Massey University historian Adam Claasen has written an extraordinary book telling the previously untold story of New Zealand’s Great War airmen. While much has been written about our Kiwi soldiers at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, Fearless tells the story of more than 800 airmen and a few women flying in open-cockpit wood-and-wire biplanes.

Alfred de Bathe Brandon. On two occasions in 1916 he assisted in bringing down "baby killer" Zeppelins.

Harriet Simeon was NZ's highest ranking woman in the Women's Royal Air Force.

Clive Collett was one of NZ's most accomplished airmen. His letters from the front paint a vivid picture of the fighting in 1916 and feature in the book "Fearless".

Samuel Dawson was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in bombing the Tondern Zeppelin sheds in northern Germany, one of the Great War's most daring operations.

Adam Claasen, author of Fearless: The Extraordinary Untold Story of New Zealand's Great War airmen.

The book is published by Massey University Press.