Wiseowl 91
08/01 Course on Runway.
The Gisborne Experience
By SQNLDR Anthony Hawes
Exercise Wiseowl 91 took place in Gisborne from 25 August to 04 September.
A ‘Wiseowl’ is the Exercise each group of trainee pilots gets whereby they head off to a foreign (i.e. not Ohakea) airfield, live in a tented camp and learn to fly out of an unfamiliar airfield and unfamiliar skies.
It is an opportunity for them to be challenged and evaluated on their ability to ‘be flexible’ (this is our regularly touted ‘key to air power’ is it not?) and it is designed to stretch them on several levels at once.
It is the 91st Wiseowl and they have been going since the mid seventies. There were eight student pilots, about the same number of instructors and up to 75 support personnel – from electricians to Greg the weather man.
Camp set up.
The exercise was superbly led by the flamboyant SQNLDR Dan O’Reilly, ably assisted by the omniscient W/O Greg ‘Horse’ Backhouse. The Exercise was very successful, meeting all its goals and objectives. The local population got behind it and were very welcoming and supportive with the local Aero Club making its rooms available for the students to study in.
An open day was held on the Saturday with up to 5,000 locals turning out to see where we live and what we fly. The locals were able to look over displays from Pilot Training School, No. 3 Squadron and No. 5 Squadron, as well as be entertained by some brilliant flying from the ‘Flying Zucchinis’ (an instructors flying team).
The only dampener on the Exercise was the weather. While it didn’t rain very much, we didn’t get the oft bragged about sunny and hot Gisborne weather.
Never mind, the Army chefs made up for that with outstanding meals and the odd good joke…
AC Turei.
The highlight of the Exercise for many of us was the Saturday evening cocktail party where we hosted all the local dignitaries. This was our opportunity to thank them for their support and to show them that the RNZAF has a long and proud history and that it was built by people from such areas as the Poverty Bay. Some good speeches were made and an outstanding meal was eaten to the pleasure of all.
All in all, it was a very successful Exercise. The strong suggestion is that the next Wiseowl will be in Wanaka but this is yet to be confirmed.
Quote of the camp comes from the head Army chef who said, ‘If the Air Force got caterers back, there would be no caterers left in the Army!’