Rescue chopper Anzac flyover brings back Air Force memories

Paul Bayly, representing the Royal New Zealand Air Force Association, places a wreath at the Cenotaph at last year’s Anzac Day dawn service. In his Air Force career, Leading Aircraftman Bayly was deployed to several countries. He now plays an integral part in Anzac Day commemorations. Herald file picture

It means different things to different people when the Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter does its annual Anzac Day flyover, lights illuminating the river as it sweeps past the Cenotaph in the smoky light of dawn.

For Gisborne RSA Anzac Day convener Paul Bayly, it always reminds him of the amount of time he spent in the back of an Iroquois when serving with the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

“We actually travelled more in the fixed-wing Hercules but the Iroquois were a wonderful, safe platform for short-area displacements, and there’s just something special about being in a helicopter.”

A Leading Aircraftman for 75 Squadron, Mr Bayly served in the late 1970s-to-early-1980s as an armourer and mechanic.

“Basically I worked on anything that had explosives in it.”

He was involved with deployments that took him from Malaya, Indonesia and Singapore to Australia and Fiji.

“In the Iroquois I’d be in the gunners’ seat out to the side, so there’d be amazing views of the territories we were travelling over,” he said.  “It was a great experience.”

For Mr Bayly, as well as adding a bit of drama to the event, the rescue helicopter flyover was an acknowledgement of another kind of service.

Over the years he has been involved in fundraising for the Eastland Helicopter Rescue Trust and while never uplifted himself, he’s been involved in call-outs.

“One I cannot forget is when a rider took a fall during a horse trek at Motu and suffered pretty horrendous head and facial injuries,” he said.

“She was up on the side of a hill where there was no way to get to her without a helicopter, so the team did a skid landing on the steep slope and uplifted her from there.

“We would have been stuffed without them.”

Meanwhile, 40 years after his own service, Paul Bayly has been delighted to see the growing support for Anzac Day and expects to see big numbers turn out on Thursday.

“Our guest speaker for the Dawn Service will be Commander Yvonne Gray of the HMNZS Manawanui, for which Gisborne is the home port.

“But because of the increase of support there is a change this year for safety reasons, so rather than dismissing by the Cenotaph, we’ll march back over the Gladstone Road Bridge and into Reads Quay so we can fall out by the band rotunda.”