Rest In Peace To RNZAF Flight Sergeant Reg Wellington Who Passed Away On 3rd November 2022

Rest in Peace to RNZAF Flight Sergeant Reg Wellington who passed away on 3rd November 2022

Reg joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force when he turned 18 in 1943.

He learned to fly on Tiger Moths and Harvards before upgrading to the P-40 and then doing a conversion course on the Corsair at Ardmore.

In 1944 Reg was sent to 22 squadron and deployed to the Pacific on the 19th December.

On his first tour, over Kavieng at top of New Ireland, Reg and his squadron did 2 strikes a day, bombing and strafing the Japanese from their base in Emirau. They would drop bombs on the Japanese and then strafe up the enemies vegetable gardens.

While in 22 squadron, Reg’s aircraft was F4U-1 Corsair NZ5339 coded '39' and in the photos above, that is actually Reg in the cockpit of No 39. He told me that he remembered dropping that 1000lbs ‘Daisy cutter’ bomb on that day. He also told me in regards to his Corsair that he “never a put scratch on her”

Reg described flying the Corsair as - “Wonderful! Pull the stick up and up she goes!”

Reg flew combat missions until the end of the war.

Reg continued to fly after the war, logging hours on Tiger moths, Miles Magisters, Piper Cubs, Cherokees and 172s. And he owned a Chrislea Super Ace (now in the Ashburton Aviation Museum)

Reg was married to Marion, and together they have 2 sons, Allan and Graeme, and now have 4 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren.

Reg’s second child, Graeme, was also a fighter pilot in the RNZAF flying the A-4 Skyhawk, and flew airliners for Air NZ after leaving the RNZAF. Now retired.

Reg and Graeme have logged hours on the same Harvard.

Reg passed away on November 3rd at the age of 97. At his funeral, there was a fly over of Harvards, including NZ1066, a Harvard that Reg flew in training.

It was a real pleasure to get to chat with him about his service history and the Corsair, and an honor to get to colourise these photos of him and his beloved Warbird.

RNZAF Official photos via the Air Museum of New Zealand
Colourised by Daniel Rarity Color

Thank you to Graeme Wellington for giving me the opportunity to colorize his father and providing the photo of him to use in this post, and to the man himself Reg Wellington for his service and blessings on these photos.

Also on the 3rd of November 2022, we lost RNZAF Corsair pilot Des Stokes at the age of 98. This leaves only 3 Kiwi Corsair pilots remaining.

Click to see more photos below

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