By PATRICK GOWER
Distinguished Second World War airman, parachutist. Born in Dublin, 1917. Died in Auckland on June 29, aged 84.
rdGordon Calder DFC, DFM - New Zealand's oldest regular parachutist - will be remembered by all who knew him for his inspirational sense of adventure.
He took up parachuting at the age of 54 - beginning a passion that spanned 30 years and more than 1400 jumps. His last was on his 84th birthday earlier this year.
While Mr Calder described himself as a dreamer with no firm idea of what he wanted to do when he left school - he told a granddaughter recently that he still did not know - his sense of adventure was evident from an early age.
When he joined the RAF to fight in the Second World War it was not to serve king and country - his native Ireland was neutral - but for the sheer excitement of it all.
Rising to flight-lieutenant, he won the Distinguished Flying Medal in one of his first operational flights, a daylight bombing of the Japanese aerodrome Singora in Thailand.
The bomber he was navigating was attacked by Japanese Zero fighters and forced to crash land behind enemy lines. The pilot, Arthur Scarf, was killed but won the Victoria Cross for his role in the battle.
Mr Calder later escaped enemy clutches by making his way through Malaya and catching one of the last ships out of Singapore before the Japanese invasion.
He made his way through Sumatra and Java before reaching safety in Karachi.
He returned to action and later won the Distinguished Flying Cross for strikes across the North Sea and Frisian Islands.
But his RAF mates knew him not just for his bravery but his sense of humour - one time riding a bicycle, while carrying an umbrella, off the diving board and into the base swimming pool.
As with his obvious Irish brogue, this sense of humour stayed with him until the end.
One entry in his jumping logbook reads: "Water jump at Lake Rotorua - missed the bloody lake."
As well as his many parachute jumps, in more recent years he made three bungi jumps - all of which he found "somewhat tame" - and a rap jump, abseiling down the side of downtown Auckland's Novotel building with two of his granddaughters.
Gordon Calder died peacefully after a short illness - "Gone to be with God on his ultimate jump" - and is survived by his wife, Vina, twins Peter and Rona and six grandchildren.
<i>Obituary:</i> Gordon Calder
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.