Group Captain Geoffrey Wallingford LVO, AFC, RNZAF

       Huntley 1945-1946, Haileybury & ISC 1947-48, Wanganui Collegiate 1948-1951     

  

RAF College Cranwell, Sword of Honour 1954. Malayan Emergency 1956-1958. 

Malaysia Confrontation 1964-66. Vietnam 1970. OC No 14 Squadron RNZAF 1964-1966.  

NZ Equerry to HM The Queen 1970, OC Flying Training, Wigram 1972-1973.

Defence Adviser, Singapore 1974-1976.   CO Base Woodbourne 1982-1984.

 

Memories of Huntley include the train or bus trip from Wellington; once settled in the strict daily class and dormitory routine; chapel, Sunday afternoon walks and periodic “exeats” kindly hosted by local parents. I was lucky to be in the XV for two years and the XI in my last year competing, home or away, against Hereworth and St Georges and also as a member of the relay held at the Easter Collegiate athletic sports at Wanganui. Daily mental arithmetic classes with Mr Noel Rix Trott were to stand me in good stead later in my air force career with pilot navigation. Frowned upon now, boxing taught us to stand up for ourselves. We had to swim. We walked into Marton for dancing classes. Some of the weekly meals such as tripe and boiled wheat, would not have prompted Oliver twist to ask for more, though golden syrup “sticky wicket” had some merit!

I left Huntley just before the end of my final term to sail to England. Attended Haileybury and Imperial Service College near Hertford.For a year. On return to New Zealand began four years at Wanganui Collegiate School, joining up again with my contemporaries from Huntley for the second term. Selected for a cadetship at the RAF College Cranwell, set sail again for England having completed a 12 week initial flying training course at Taieri on the Tiger Moth. Basic cadet training was followed by two years of academic work and flying training on Chipmunk, Harvard and Balliol aircraft. Graduated in 1954 with the Sword of Honour.

On return to New Zealand carried out re-conversion to the Harvard aircraft and air weapons training at Wigram before attending a Vampire conversion course at Ohakea. Joined No 75 Squadron flying the Vampire FB5 aircraft. Posted to No 14 Squadron in Singapore flying the Venom FB1 aircraft, a high performance, swept-wing jet fighter that had at one stage held the World height record. Flew in a close air support role against the Malayan communist terrorist threat in South East Asia. The Venom was armed with two 1000lb bombs, or high velocity rockets and 20 mm cannon in air strikes against suspected terrorist jungle strongholds.

After a period of ground appointments returned again to Ohakea and.appointed Flight Commander on No 14 Squadron now equipped with the Canberra B12 aircraft, training in the interdiction and ground attack role. Flew on periodic deployments to Tengah in Singapore. After spending a year as an instructor at Wigram on Harvard and Devon aircraft, took command of No 14 Squadron. In September 1964 deployed at short notice with six aircraft to Tengah, Singapore at the height of Confrontation with Indonesia following incursions into the newly formed Malaysian states of Malaya and Borneo. The squadron was part of a 96 aircraft strike force targeting Indonesian airfields and infrastructure. The Squadron mission, armed with 72 high velocity rockets, was to attack Halim Airbase and destroy Russian Badger and other aircraft on the ground. In the event, the threat to Malaysia gradually lessened and the Squadron finally deployed back to Ohakea in November 19Returned to staff work at Defence Headquarters. Went to the United States as a member of the Skyhawk evaluation team. Flew the Skyhawk from the Douglas Test Centre at Palmdale across the mountains from Los Angeles. Visited operational flying units at Le Moor naval air station, and maintenance facilities at the Alameda naval base in San Francisco. Then, negotiated the Skyhawk purchase at the Pentagon, Washington.

 

Selected as New Zealand Equerry to Her Majesty the Queen for the 1970 Royal Tour of New Zealand. Spent a month in the Royal Household at the Palace in London attending the Queen’s engagements and duties. Joined the Royal Flight flying by British Airways VC10 via Newfoundland and Vancouver to Nadi, Fiji and boarded the Royal Yacht Britannia. As Equerry accompanied Her Majesty the Queen on ceremonial visits to Suva and Nukualofa, Tonga before sailing on to Wellington for the month long Royal Tour in New Zealand

Having volunteered for Viet nam service, flew to Saigon via Singapore arriving there on Anzac Day. One needed no reminder that it was a war zone. On the coastal flight to Cam Ranh Bay that first evening the night sky was lit by flares and tracer ammunition. Mortar fire hit the taxiways barely 100 metres from our billets. Completed two week forward air control indoctrination, followed by flight conversion on the OV10 Bronco aircraft at Danang. Flew in support of the American Division at Chu Lai, living on the Beach under the casuarina trees. As Assistant Air Liaison Officer (ALO), flew under call sign Helix 02 on missions in support of the American 96^th Brigade. The Area of Operations (AO) extended from the coast to the Laos border overlooking the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and involved directing air strikes by a wide range of strike aircraft including Phantom, Skyraider, Intruder and naval carrier based Skyhawk and other aircraft launching a variety of weaponry - bombs, rockets, guns, napalm, etc. We marked the intended target, firing white phosphorus (willie pete) rockets that showed up clearly as a white smoke above the jungle canopy, often in close proximity to our ground troops. This period in Viet Nam was a culmination of my operational flying experience.

Later military service included the six month Joint Services Staff College Course (JSSC) in Canberra and command of Flying Training at Wigram. Posted to Singapore (1974-1977) as Defence Adviser at the High Commission. Enjoyed an interesting and busy diplomatic life working with the Singapore Armed Forces and the NZ Forces based there. Returned to New Zealand as Director Training and then Director Operations (Air) in Wellington. Commanded RNZAF Base Woodbourne (1981-1983). During this period hosted Prince Edward for a few days in the summer of 1982 that included a yachting cruise in the outer Sounds. My final appointment before retirement was Defence Director of Operations and Training (1984-1986). This spanned an interesting era – attending ANZUS conferences and exercises, in Hawaii and Canberra, until the severance of US/NZ military ties as a result of the ban on US Navy nuclear ship visits, the Rainbow Warrior sinking by French undercover agents, and demonstrations surrounding the 1985 Springbok rugby tour – all of which had direct involvement for Defence.

Postscript

Married to Diana with son, Philip (Huntley 1983-86) and daughter, Julia, I have enjoyed an interesting and exciting life of travel and military experience and appreciate the opportunities that came from a good education. A cadetship at Cranwell set me on a path of real challenge. In a career spanning thirty four years I managed to meet most challenges. There was a joy in flying the jet fighter and attack aircraft - Vampire, Venom, Canberra – at that time we ruled the skies - and there was the urgency of the operational flying to take part in the communist terrorist Malayan Emergency, Confrontation with Indonesia and a tour as a forward air controller in Viet Nam. I was always glad when I could return from staff to operational flying. Command of No 14 Squadron in an operational theatre was a highlight and a privilege, as was command of RNZAF Base Woodbourne. That said, I felt that it was a big mistake for a number of reasons for the RNZAF to be pushed into selling off Base Wigram in favour of keeping Woodbourne. Then, a Government decision to disband our operational “strike” force and “mothballing” of the Skyhawk and Aeromachi aircraft relegated the RNZAF to a transport and coastguard support role - with pilots denied modern jet experience - an air force without “teeth” and no attack capability. That said, a military flying career would still hold real attraction.

Russell Briant (1973 – 1975)

After Huntley, I went on to - Wanganui Collegiate School.
I am currently - in my 29th year at Bank of New Zealand.
My role is: Strategy Principal Payments & E-Commerce within the Corporate Strategy department, part of Office of the CEO

After Huntley and Collegiate I went to Massey University in Palmerston North and gained a Bachelor of Business Studies Degree.
I have lived in Wellington since 1984. Married Barbara (nee Low) and we have two post school age sons.

I had six years on the board of our local primary school, following in the footsteps to some extent of my father, Goff Briant, and grandfather Hugh Briant, who both served on the Huntley school board for many years. I was a third generation Huntley School attendee.

I have always regarded my three years boarding at Huntley as the making of me and the highlight of my schooling experience.

I lived 8 miles north and had been visiting Huntley and going to the Huntley School sports since I was a toddler. One of the first things I ever won was a friends of the school race, age 5 or 6, with a huge age handicap head start. Sometime later Headmaster Noel Rix-trott gave me a small set of colouring pencils as a prize (I'm sure I expected a silver cup like the other boys)

From when I arrived at school proper in 1973, I was taught by a succession of motivated, interested, interesting teachers who tested my intellect and gave me the self confidence I had some. I leant my fledgling leadership skills at Huntley built an underlying foundation of fairness, good will and doing the right thing by others. I gained an enjoyment of team sports and still regard teams as a great metaphor for life - teams use your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses.

We had plenty of time to play on the extensive sports grounds. I love tell people we played half an afternoon of sport on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - a whole afternoon on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and had the run of the grounds on Sunday between the two chapel services. Because boy of that age are usually keen to learn, that amount of time, coupled with some great talent and coaching produced some outstanding school sporting results. During my three years the rugby first fifteen lost only one prep school match. The cricket first eleven had a more even spread of results.

Huntley was very good at finding an individual's skills and giving them a opportunity of growing them. I was able to have a go in some great school plays and musicals - Tom Sawyer, Joseph and Animal Farm -- from memory; joined the choir, had success in public speaking and art, and found an enjoyment of general knowledge (which still makes me a useful bod to have in your quiz team). I made great use of the library.

Developed a love for liver and bacon, have yet to find anyone who cooks mince as well as 'Chook' Francis and have fond memories for Bacon on Boards (well fried bread), Mississippi Mud (a chocolate pudding with coconut on top), Treacle Tart, Dead Baby ( a sponge with golden syrup), porridge with brown sugar, bread and butter with any meal - all of which more than made up for the occasional shocker like Frogs Eyes (sago).

I saw my first colour television at Huntley. The Rumble in the Jungle - Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman in 1974 in Mr (Brett) Butler's living room. The later viewings of episodes of War and Peace in Mr (Matt) Guerin's house (I only remember the battle scenes).

Movies came on reels and were big events held in the school hall. Reach for the Sky, some great Westerns and prisoner of war escapes were all prime fodder for young men.

Current and past Governors General, Sir Dennis Blundell and Sir Arthur Porritt came to the end of year prize giving and then current New Zealand cricketers John Morrison and John Parker came and spoke to us.

Old boys were always involved in the school. The ones who had left the year before to Collegiate would come and play against the first fifteen. Gordon Hare would bring men with pick handles to play the first eleven. Funds were raise in many ways and the school benefitted.

Barbara and I were married in the school chapel (that I had spent at least once a day in while at the school) by Reverend Bill Anderson, who had been the minister at the school during my time there.

Honour through Toil remains a great motto.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

John Kynoch 1941-1946

My target shooting career -
from small beginnings to an Olympic Medal and beyond.

Having been asked to do something for the Museum I am delighted to do so as an example of what can happen if you find something that you are a bit good at, or like doing, and give it a bit of a push. I really mean giving it your all at least for quite a time! You have no idea of where it might take you. This applies not only to a sport but equally to any hobby, interest or activity.

At Huntley I was fascinated by the imitation metal barrelled drill rifles that were stored in racks in one side of the gym. Apparently we used these in Cadets though I do not remember doing so. All I remember was that we were not supposed to take them out of the racks to point at the possums in the roof. I was interested in rifle shooting and during the holidays had regular practice sessions with a neighbour’s son under our fathers’ tutelage.

I went to Nelson College where shooting was an important sport and by winning the Junior Championship in 1948, realised it was something that I could do better than most of my peers. I can remember quite specifically walking down the hill after this win and deciding that I was going to push it. Even then I spent a lot of time thinking about it, something that has been a big part of my training regime ever since.

The following two years I won the Senior Championship, the first while still an Intermediate. In doing so I beat the Head Prefect who thought he was a great shot. He found a way of getting even exercising rights that I am sure head prefects no longer have!

In preparation to emigrate to Scotland to go into the family woollen manufacturing business, I did a short course at Massey College. I shot small-bore with them at the Turitea Valley club and found myself at the N.Z. Universities Winter Tournament in Dunedin. Having never shot a “possible” before, I shot six in succession to finish top shot for NZ.

In 1965 I learnt of the existence of the British Sporting Rifle Club. This inspired me because I did think that lying down on a cold Drill Hall floor and shooting at little dots I could hardly see was a bit boring. The British Sporting Rifle Club shot at moving targets from a standing position with telescopic sights. The only trouble was they were at Bisley in the south of England. It is considered by most of the world as the centre of target shooting but it was 680 miles away from Keith where I lived in the North of Scotland.
At that time they were trying to get a team together to represent Great Britain in the Running Boar event at the forthcoming World Shooting Championships in Germany. The trouble was that in order to represent G.B. one had to do an international qualifying score in official trials. The participants had got stuck about 20% below this level. I visited Bisley and saw something of the event in which the figure of a wild boar crosses a 10 metre gap, 50 metres away in either 5 or 2½ seconds. The “bull” was 50mm in diameter.

I went home and constructed a miniature version so I could practise in my garage. The target was drawn from side to side on a track by alternatively placing or removing a weight on a length of cord that went across the gap round a pulley and at right angles up the side wall to where I shot from. A knot on the cord picked up the target trolley after a suitable delay to allow the shooter to get ready. The speed was controlled by the centrifugal governor you could find in an old fashioned 78 rpm HMV gramophone player. Beautifully made affairs with three brass weights limited by a speed control lever. You would probably be hard pushed to find one now with the famous logo of a dog listening to His Master’s Voice in the megaphone, except in a museum.

I mention this detail to illustrate the point that though there are often so many reasons that may make a project very difficult, if you really can be bothered to put in the effort, you never know where it might get you. I set about regular drying firing practice sessions, clicking at the target with by rifle, as I learnt this new skill. It could be likened to hours and hours swinging a golf club but never with a real ball. I thought my estimated scores were improving to the required level. This proved to be correct when I attended a trial at Bisley in March 1966 and shot the first two qualifying scores and so found myself in Germany representing Great Britain later in the year.

At the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968 it was announced that Running Boar was to be included for first time in the Munich games in four year’s time. Having won the British Championship that year I thought that if I could just stay top of the pile for four years I could maybe get to the Games, an exciting prospect. It did though require a bit more initiative and enterprise because rifle manufacturers were only making rifles in a style that suited prone shooting and I had distinct ideas as to how the stock should be made for moving target shooting. Though possessed with no inherent wood working skill I set about making my stock from an old beech log and did so with some success. The skill in stock making is what we call “inletting”; making the inside surfaces where the wood touches the metal of the action an absolutely perfect fit. This is so that they react together consistently during the recoil of each shot. When testing the accuracy of my new rifle I was pleased to be able to put five shots through the same hole at 50 metres, something that few rifles will do. Though I used this rifle at the 1970 World Championship, with the approach of the 1972 Olympics the rifle manufacturers were starting to make the sort of rifles we wanted.

As I was still top of the UK pile my selection for one of the two GB places for Munich was fairly assured. An important occasion for me was at a European Championship in East Germany in 1971. I used to make a practice of getting close to and learning from the top competitors. The extent of camaraderie and mutual helpfulness there is among international competitors might surprise many. After a particularly good farewell banquet I found myself not by accident sitting on the floor in a hallway beside the World Champion, a Swede, and the Russian Silver medallist. With loosened tongues they were discussing their plans for the following year in preparation for the Olympic Gold Medal that one of them would surely win. They would in effect be full time professional athletes for that year. I thought – what a sentence – what a commitment – how many hours? – how many shots would that be? But then I thought - they are still only human - two arms, two legs etc. One was Swedish forester who I never though to be very bright – the other a very cultured chess and piano playing physicist but whose whole university career was rearranged around his shooting schedule.

I decide that for one year I would give it my all and make it the most important thing in my life – after a wife, four children and a full time job that is! I was able to devote more or less the whole of one of the week-end days and several hours on two or three early mornings or evenings. Only about 20% of this time would be actually spent with a rifle in my hands and perhaps only 5% actually shooting live ammunition. When asked when I did my training I once answered “In the bath”! This was not completely facetious because I have always believed that really deep and meaningful thinking about all the aspects of what ever it is that one wants to do at a high level – what might happen and how one would deal with it – is a fundamental part to the necessary preparation for delivering that. But overriding that is my “watch word” as far as competitive sport is concerned – “Think about the performance – forget about the results”. Only you can affect the former – only others can determine the latter.

As it was I arrived at Munich confident that I had done all I could in preparation but without actually having produced a big score in training during the year. In adrenalin sports it is common for Personal Best Performance to be done in big competitions. You could clear a five bar gate with a bull behind you that would otherwise seem impossible! But shooting is the antithesis of that and one has to work against adrenalin flow. However all the work came together and I broke my British record by quite some margin to come third after several of the favourites had collapsed under the weight of expectation. But it says something of my attitude that, though winning the medal was nice, I could not get it off my neck quickly enough to get the score engraved around the rim! The score meant everything to me. It was the World Record 12 months before. The fact that only two people scored more on the day was not of my making. Of course in time the score means nothing and the medal means everything and lasts for ever!

Although I have never been motivated to put in the same effort again, the lessons and techniques I learnt have stood me in good stead for the rest of my shooting career. Though no longer competitive at an International level I have continued to win a fair share of British Championships well into my late seventies.

If you really work at some specialisation, in what ever field of recreation or hobby, you never know where it might lead you. Give it a go! And I wish you luck which you will also need a bit of.

John Kynoch

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Justice John McGrath KNZM (1956–1957)

After leaving Huntley in 1957, I went on to Wanganui Collegiate School and then to Victoria University of Wellington where I studied law.
Thereafter, I practised law in Wellington, initially in law firms and then as a Barrister. From 1989, for 11 years I was a public servant, holding the position of SolicitorGeneral and head of the Crown Law Office. This involved being the Government’s senior legal advisor and in charge of legal representation of the Government in its litigation in the courts. I appeared as the Government’s counsel in many appellate cases, including a number before the Privy Council in London, which at the time was New Zealand’s highest Court. In 2000 I moved on to be a judge myself.
During 2003, Parliament ended New Zealand’s relationship with the Privy Council and established in its place the Supreme Court of New Zealand based in Wellington and comprising New Zealand judges. I have been one of the five members of this Court since 2005. In that role I participate in hearing and deciding cases which have particular public importance or which involve a potential miscarriage of justice. Only such cases reach the Supreme Court.
What I remember most from my time at Huntley is not the very good teaching and the wonderful sporting opportunities I had, nor even the several lifelong friendships I formed, important as each of these were. Even more valuable for me was the encouragement we were given to make the best of our talents and to care about others rather than just our own interests. I also particularly remember the importance the headmaster, Mr Noel RixTrott, attached to the “Huntley Code of Honour”, which involved being open and straightforward in all our dealings with people not just those in authority, but those we lived and worked with every day. Huntley taught us about setting our standards in life and conducting ourselves in accordance with them. The school received us at an impressionable age and developed in us ideals of integrity and responsibility that we should strive to achieve throughout life. I am very grateful for that.
2



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone