MayDay!
No. 14 SQN’s ATC Reunion
Members of No. 14 SQN's ATC
Members of Cadet No. 14 Squadron’s Cadet Air Training Corps (ATCs) celebrated their 70th anniversary on May 1st in Gisborne, with their appropriately-named ‘MayDay Reunion’. The reunion, spread over two days, saw members travel from Australia, South America, Wellington, Napier and Rotorua to attend this reunion.
The Commanding Officer of today’s Cadet No. 14 Squadron, ATC Pilot Officer John Baker welcomed the ‘MayDay Reunion’ to his base at GAPS (the Gisborne Aircraft Preservation Society) at Darton Field, where visitors mingled with today’s Squadron and crawled over the collection of classic aircraft under restoration. The reunion then shifted to the “Smash Palace”, where the Squadron caught up the 50 years since many last met; surrounded by classic aircraft and motorcycles. The MayDay Reunion Dinner was the highlight of the weekend and included—toasting the ‘past and present Squadron’, conducting a (highly disputed!) Quiz on 1960 ATC events, awarding honoraria, and presenting the legacy painting “RNZAF Canberras over Malaya-Operation Firedog” to today’s CO. The formalities ended with the outstanding premier screening of “King’s Crew; the Chronicle of No. 14 SQN”. The MayDay Reunion was a great success, and wives finally met the guys their husbands have been talking about, all their married lives!