The Wings Over New Zealand Show

Guest: Squadron Leader Peter Pennell, retired, RNZAF Navigator

Host: Dave Homewood

Recorded: ‎17th of August 2026

Released: 27th of August 2026

Duration: 1 hour 59 minutes 6 seconds

Dave Homewood sits down with Peter Pennell, a former RNZAF Navigator, for a chat. Peter was posted straight from completion of his training at Wigram to England where he joined No. 75 Squadron RNZAF and began conversion to the English Electric Canberra bomber. The squadron then collected six Canberra B.2’s and ferried them to their new base at Tengah, Singapore. The unit replaced No. 14 Squadron and were soon involved in operations as part of the Malayan Emergency.

Peter talks in detail and tells some classic stories about those days in Canberras, particularly with No. 75 Squadron in Singapore for 2.5 years, and also about his next posting to No. 14 Squadron back home at Ohakea in the Canberra B(I).12 bombers and T.13 trainers. Peter was again deployed to Singapore with the Canberras, this time on No. 14 Squadron during the Indonesian Confrontation.

After a year with No. 14 Squadron, Peter was posted to the Transport Support Unit at RNZAF Station Whenuapai where he converted onto Bristol Freighter transport planes. Once trained up as a navigator on the Freighter, he was then posted to No. 41 Squadron RNZAF, and made his way back to Singapore. The squadron was flying in support of Australian and US forces in South East Asia.

He had a stint in Douglas C-47 Dakotas of No. 42 Squadron next at Ohakea, and then was posted back to Whenuapai to a non-flying role in Base Operations. He ended up having control of every aircraft movement in the RNZAF throughout New Zealand and overseas.

Peter tells some absolutely classic stories, and in detailed clarity.

Air to air view of No. 75 Squadron Canberra WH739 dropping bombs over Malaya.
These are the first bombs dropped by No. 75 Squadron in the Malaya Emergency. Photo taken by Peter Pennell from the lead Canberra. Air Force Museum of New Zealand photo DPRSEA228-58.

Above: Peter Pennell

Guest: Dr. Dan Ellin of the International Bomber Command Centre, and Andrew Panton of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby

Host: Dave Homewood

Recorded: ‎28th of July 2026

Released: 21st of August 2026

Duration: 58 minutes 56 seconds

Lincolnshire is Bomber County, remembered as the heart and home of RAF Bomber Command in WWII (even though a lot of Bomber Command stations were also situated in Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire and beyond, too.)

In this episode Dave Homewood revisited the amazing Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby in Lincolnshire with Dr. Dan Ellin of the International Bomber Command Centre, which is based in Lincoln.

Dan, who was last on the WONZ Show three years ago, updates Dave on everything that is now happening at the of the International Bomber Command Centre’s archive. This is an amazing and ever growing collection of Bomber Command photos, logbooks, documents and ephemera.

And Dave and Dan then caught up with Andrew Panton, the General Manager of the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre. Andrew gives an update on the different things happening around the museum, including the restoration on Lancaster ‘Just Jane’, as well as plans to expand the collection and to build a new hangar and display building. He also talks about the recent visit of the Avro Anson Mk. 1 which used to be in New Zealand. Andrew also talks about their then-upcoming airshow (which took place on the 1st of August.)

Quick Links:

• The International Bomber Command Centre

• The IBCC Digital Archive

• The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, East Kirkby

Previous WONZ Show Episodes

• WONZ 285 Andrew Panton on East Kirkby

•  WONZ 286 Dr Dan Ellin at the International Bomber Command Centre

The music at the end of this episode is Wild Flower by Joachim Karud.

Dr Dan Ellin watching Lancaster ‘Just Jane’ complete her taxi run.

Guest: Paul Waite of the Tangmere Aviation Museum

Host: Dave Homewood

Recorded: ‎18th of July 2026

Released: 15th of August 2026

Duration: 53 minutes 25 seconds

In this episode Dave Homewood visits the Tangmere Aviation Museum and he speaks with the museum manager Paul Waite. The museum is situated on the former RAF Tangmere airfield, famous as a front line station in the defence of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain, and as a base for numerous Fighter Command an No. 2 Tactical Air Force squadrons taking the offensive back to the Germans thereafter. In the postwar years it also became the base of the High Speed Flight of the Central Fighter Establishment, whose pilots set some of the world speed records of the 1950s.

Paul Waite outside the Tangmere Aviation Museum.

Quick Links:

•  Tangmere Aviation Museum Website

•  Tangmere Military Aviation Museum Community on Facebook

•  Tangmere Aviation Museum – Founder’s Page

The music at the end of this episode is Wild Flower by Joachim Karud.

Guest: Howard Heeley

Host: Dave Homewood

Recorded: ‎15th of July 2026

Released: 9th of August 2026

Duration: 1 hour 56 minutes 54 seconds

In this episode Dave Homewood visits the Newark Air Museum, at former RAF Winthorpe, situated at Coddington, just outside of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. Dave was hosted by Howard Heeley, Secretary & Museum Trustee, who has had a long affiliation with the museum, and was the perfect person to talk about the history of the site and the collection, and the current and future happenings there.

The Newark Air Museum has an amazing collection of military and civilian aeroplanes and helicopters, and tells the story of aviation in Nottinghamshire, Britain and beyond. It also honours the wartime and postwar crews who trained on the site, former RAF Winthorpe, and the sacrifices they made.

The following photos taken on the day by Dave Homewood are laid out below in the order of how the exhibits are discussed in the podcast so you can follow along with visuals as you listen.

Howard Heeley with the English Electric Lightning (Photo supplied)

The RAF Winthorpe Memorial Garden

Blue Steel in the workshop. This was a British air-launched, rocket-propelled nuclear armed standoff missile, built to arm the V bomber force.

Hangar One
Starting with the Lee-Richards Annular Biplane replica that was constructed for the film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.

A rare General Aircraft Monospar VH-UTH

The unique Reid & Sigrist RS.4 Bobsleigh (Desford)

The Avro Anson, behind the Taylor Monoplane.

Saab Viggen

Above: The Upkeep mine that was recovered from Reculver, in Kent, where the weapon was tested before sed on the Dams Raid in 1943.

WW1 heritage items

The ‘Half and Half’ Tiger Moth with half the skin off to show the construction of the aeroplane.

The Gnome with a watering can, inside the SAAB Viggen

The famous prototype Taylor Monoplane, built by John Taylor in his living room.

The Clutton Fred, G-BJAD

de Havilland Sea Venom FAW.21

The Zurowski ZP.1 helicopter

Hawker Seahawk FB.3

The SAAB Safir

Parts recovered from the crash site of Avro Lancaster ME846.

A wall dedicated to the memory of the crew of Lancaster ME486.

The plaque create by the Dutch resistance members.

The propeller from No. 617 Squadron pilot P/O Lewis Burpee’s Lancaster, ED865 (AJ-S), shot down on its way to Germany during the Dams Raid. All aboard were killed.

A section of original Avro Lancaster, W4964.

The Saunders-Roe (SARO) Skeeter AOP.12 military helicopter XL764, which Howard admits he owned himself as a 21-year-old.

Below Left and Centre: Two-seat de Havilland NF.3 Venom. Below Left: de Havilland Vampire T.11.

MBA Tiger Cub 440

The Avro Vulcan

Howard Heeley with the Vulcan (Photo supplied)

The e Havilland Heron airliner, ‘Sir James Young Simpson’.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23ML “Flogger” and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27K “Flogger”

Hangar Two

Gloster “Prone Pilot” Meteor F8

Gloster Meteor FR.9 (Mod)

The Hawker Siddeley Dominie T1

The Folland Gnat and the BAC Jet Provost

SAAB Viggen AJSH 37

BAe Sea Harrier FRS.1 / FA.2, ZA176

Avro Shackleton MR.3/3

Lockeed TriStar SIM (cockpit)

Sud Puma HC.1 XW208

Handley Page Hastings T.5, TG517

English Electric Canberra T.19 Radar Trainer, WH904

Blackburn Buccaneer S.1

Cessna 310, right, and MS.880 Rallye

de Havilland Dove

North American Harvard

The Avro Ashton fuselage

Westland Wessex

More Photos at the Newark Air Museum

Quick Links:

• Newark Air Museum’s Website

• Newark Air Museum Facebook Group

The music at the end of this episode is Wild Flower by Joachim Karud.

Guest: Clive Woodward Estcourt NZ391045, Pilot, Bomb Aimer (14th of October 1917 – 17th of Aug 2017 )

Host: Dave Homewood

Recorded: ‎13th of August 2013

Released: 9th of August 2026

Duration: 2 hour 33 minutes 11 seconds

Clive Estcourt had been a commercial artist and signwriter in Hamilton in 1939 when the war broke out, and he immediately volunteered to join the Royal New Zealand Air Force. He was sent to the newly-opened RNZAF Station Ohakea in the Manawatu region, and became one of the very first airmen posted into that base after it opened on the 18th of September 1939. He thought when he first joined that he was going to fly aeroplanes…. they made him the station postman!

He soon was sidelined to become Ohakea’s station signwriter. He was able to set up his own workshop to make all the signs on the ever-expanding station. But he was still wanting to become a pilot however, and eventually in 1942 he managed to convince the RNZAF to post him to an aircrew course, starting at RNZAF Station Rotorua for his Initial Training Wing course.

He then underwent flying training on Tiger Moths at No. 3 Elementary Flying Training School, at RNZAF Station Harewood. He was then sent to Canada to continue his training in October 1942, where he continued training at RCAF Dunnville flying Harvards. But this training did not go well, and he ended up getting getting the chop from the course.

Clive was remustered to Observer trade, and completed his training in Canada, before being sent to Britain where he crewed up at No. 11 Operational Training Unit, Westcott. Clive suffered a severe mishap at the OTU and was forced to bail out, which he details, and was forced to do the course again.

He was then posted to No. 75 (NZ) Squadron with his almost all-New Zealand crew, consisting of:
Captain – Pilot Officer John Rees “Aussie” Layton DFC, RNZAF (NZ425914)
Navigator – Flight Sergeant John Christie, RNZAF (NZ4212829), aka Jack, aka Ben
Air Bomber – Warrant Officer Clive Woodward Estcourt, RNZAF (NZ391045)
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner – Flight Sergeant Ta Tio Tuaine “Tai” Nicholas, RNZAF (NZ425658)
Mid-Upper Gunner – Flight Sergeant David Onslow Light, RNZAF (NZ4212848)
Rear Gunner – Flight Sergeant Leslie Dixon Moore, RNZAF (NZ421327)
Flight Engineer – Sergeant F. Samuel, RAFVR

After one and a half months at RAF Mepal with the New Zealand squadron, Clive and his crew were selected to be posted from No. 75 (NZ) Squadron to No. 7 Squadron Pathfinder Force at RAF Oakington. They were on Pathfinder operations from October 1944 through till February 1945.

During the tour with No. 7 Squadron PFF, the Navigator John Christie was badly injured in a motorcycle accident and he was replaced by:
Navigator – Sergeant. Lloyd Edward Anger, RCAF (R200903)

However, due to a non-operational error by the captain when he failed to turn up for a briefing, the strict command chain in PFF saw the crew sent back to No. 75 (NZ) Squadron without completing the PFF tour. This included Lloyd Anger who stayed with the crew. They carried on with the New Zealand squadron through February and March 1945 till the original members of the crew were tour expired.

Clive completed 36 operational sorties over enemy territory in total, plus several other OTU flights close to enemy territory as well where they were creating a diversion to confuse German defences.

Once he completed operational flying he became an instructor at No. 17 Operational Training Unit at Silverstone and Turweston. Postwar, Clive returned to New Zealand and was a member of a Light Anti-Aircraft unit in the Territorial Air Force in Auckland, before becoming the Adjutant of No. 7 Squadron Air Training Corps in Hamilton for 17 years. He was very active in the RNZAF Association, and as a special associate member of the Mess at RNZAF Te Rapa, Hamilton, till its closure.

Clive was one of the New Zealand Bomber Command veterans who was selected to be flown to London for the unveiling of the Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park, on the 28th of June 2012. He was the oldest veteran in the New Zealand party, aged 95.

Clive passed away on the 17th of Aug 2017, two months before his 100th birthday.

Clive Estcourt with his “Memory Lane” as he called it, with his favourite photos and model Lancaster.

Above: Clive Estcourt during WWII.

Below: Photo from RNZAF Station Ohakea in 1939.

Below: Ohakea, 1940. Clive is second from left.

Below: Sports at Ohakea (1939-1942). Clive seated left. Airspeed Oxfords behind.

Below: Aircrew training at RNZAF Station Harewood, Christchurch.

Below: Training in Canada.

Below: At Westcott, England.

Below: Photos of Clive and his crew taken at No. 1657 Heavy Conversion Unit, RAF Shepherd’s Grove, before they were posted to No. 75 (NZ) Squadron.

Below: Target photos from operations Clive and his crew undertook,

Below: Postwar photos, including with the LAA Flight

Note: This episode ends abruptly simply because that is how the original recording was.

The music at the end of this episode is Wild Flower by Joachim Karud.