SWIFT SKY
New Zealand’s Military Aviation History
Errol W. Martyn with the Air Force Museum


RELEASE DATE 1 APRIL 2010
73rd ANNIVERSARY OF THE
ROYAL NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE
RRP $65.00 | Hardback | 232pp | Penguin Books
Full colour and b&w photographs throughout

New Zealanders were among the world’s first aviators, with our geography and location making the prospect of flight an attractive one for our people and our nation. It comes as no surprise then that tens of thousands have served in not only the Royal New Zealand Air Force but in numerous air forces in peace, and in war around the world. Those New Zealanders were among the first to take to the air like a ‘swift to the sky’. Told through the collections of the Air Force Museum of New Zealand, this book is highly illustrated with ephemera, personal accounts, aircraft and previously unpublished photographs. The text follows the development of our military aviation’s pre-WW1 origins to today’s mobile defence force support backbone. This is the ultimate New Zealand Air Force book, timely published to coincide with the 73rd Anniversary of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

Swift to the Sky tells the story of the Air Force and provides an important account of the role of the RNZAF in New Zealand’s history. As Chief of Air Force it is an honour to provide a foreword to this portrayal of those who have courageously served our country as airmen and women over the years. While the Air Force is the youngest of the three services, the role of the RNZAF has become increasingly important in the preservation of security in our region, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief. This book is a fantastic tribute to those who have assisted in these roles: past, present and future.
Chief of Air Force, Air Vice-Marshal
Graham Lintott, ONZM, FRAeS

THE AIR FORCE MUSEUM OF NEW ZEALAND
With the help of a small, enthusiastic community of volunteers, the ‘RNZAF Historical Centre’, as it was then known, was established in 1978 at RNZAF Base Wigram, Christchurch. The Centre’s collections of artifacts grew quickly thanks to generous donations of funds, aircraft and other objects. In 1981, the RNZAF Museum Trust Board decided to create a proper public museum at Base Wigram. The Air Force Museum was opened on 1 April 1987, the date marking the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the RNZAF as a separate service. In 1993 the Minister of Defence announced that RNZAF Base Wigram would close and this duly occurred on 31 December 1995. The historical significance of Wigram and the role of the base in the
RNZAF’s history, however, were not forgotten. The Museum remained at Wigram and today serves as a memorial to New Zealand’s past airmen and airwomen. It also provides the public with entertaining and informative displays and offers a wide variety of educational and public programmes to visitors.

ERROL W. MARTYN
Errol Martyn was born in Invercargill in 1946. From 1963 he spent 32 years in the airline industry with the local branch of the National Airways Corporation, later Air New Zealand. On leaving the airline and moving to Christchurch in 1996, he became a full-time researcher and writer, specializing in New Zealand aviation personnel from earliest times to 1950.
Errol has been an honorary consultant to the RNZAF Museum since the 1980s and an active member of the Aviation Historical Society of New Zealand for 40 years. He is also the author of the highly acclaimed 1400-page trilogy, For Your Tomorrow – a record of New Zealanders who have died while serving with the RNZAF and Allied Air Services since 1915