Remembering days in the air

It had been 70 years since Stewart Frame had flown his Wellington bomber over Egypt.

On October 18, the Wanganui man returned, this time on a peaceful mission. He was one of 24 New Zealand veterans chosen to travel to the anniversary commemorations at El Alamein.

He was one of two Royal New Zealand Air Force representatives in the veteran group who went to El Alamein - the other was a Spitfire pilot from Hastings. The remainder were army and navy veterans. Two veterans chosen had to pull out and three more were hospitalised during the trip. Mr Frame, the oldest of the group at 96, had no such problems.

"We had to be up at five in the morning to make each trip and get going, but it wasn't too bad otherwise. It's only now that I'm feeling the after-effects. It was all so complete. Everything went off well."

Mr Frame's war service began after training on Tiger Moths in New Plymouth and Oxfords at Ohakea. In 1942, he was shipped off to the United Kingdom to join 221 Squadron, Coastal Command.

As captain of a Vickers Wellington bomber, Flight Lieutenant Frame's job was to fly 1000ft (304m) above the Mediterranean in search of enemy convoys and submarines. Their missions, which on occasion lasted 12 hours, saw his crew use their radar equipment to locate targets for others to attack.

"We'd sit over the top and watch their efforts. Sometimes we'd have to drop a string of flares to illuminate their targets from 6000ft (1828m). Then we'd drop down again to check out the damage and report back.

"We'd search and search, pick up convoys and mark them for Beauforts and Wellingtons to attack. They would fly at 60ft (18m). You had to be very careful at that height, but you had to fly that low to get the angle right to drop your torpedo.

"We lost a lot of crews on our efforts."

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in the campaign, as were his second pilot and his navigator, one of few such crew to receive the medal.

After his tour of duty in the Mediterranean, Flt Lt Frame was sent back to the United Kingdom to instruct on Bristol Beaufighters and learn how to drop torpedos.

"They didn't release me until 1943, when I was recalled to New Zealand. There was talk they were forming a new torpedo squadron, but when I turned up at air force headquarters in Wellington they asked me what I'd like to do. It was like they had no idea, but it turned out later on they had already shelved the idea."

Instead, Flt Lt Frame was put to work flying Douglas Dakota transport planes for 40 Squadron in Auckland, an interesting coincidence, as it was a 40 Sqn Boeing 757 that flew him and his fellow veterans to Egypt.

"I felt very privileged, as we were all in business class, where the Prime Minister sits and where Prince Charles will sit when he comes.

"They kept the cockpit door open all the way there and back, and I spent a lot of time up there with the three pilots.

"I was up there for one take-off and two landings, it's quite different to how I used to do it. Nowadays the instruments seem to fly the plane, and the pilots are just there to watch what happens."

Once Germany and Japan surrendered, Mr Frame considered staying in the air force but, with his wife already suffering four years of him being overseas, decided against it.

He returned to work at General Motors and later moved to Wanganui for general machinery work. He still keeps in touch with his old Vickers Wellington bomber crew. His second pilot is now living in London.

In Egypt, the most humbling moment was visiting the El Alamein War Cemetery, where 1064 New Zealanders are buried, said Mr Frame.

"You look at this large extent of graves, all so beautifully kept, with no growth on them at all, and you just wonder how you could possibly find anyone there. I talked to one of the aides, and they took me into this building with a big stone wall of names, all these people who lost their lives, but their bodies were never found.

"I looked, and the second name I saw was a bloke my sister knew before the war in the Social Security Department, Kingi Tahiwi. I remember I was lying on a stretcher one day and he came along and stopped to talk. We hadn't seen each other since we were in England. After we talked for about 15 minutes he left in his American plane and was on his way home when we saw three enemies on the radar screens. I didn't know then if they'd have any effect on him, but he never turned up. Obviously, he was lost over the sea."

He recalled two more names, men he had trained with in New Plymouth, who were also immortalised on the wall.

"Both of them went on to bombers and one of them, Don Adams, was posted to the Middle East also, and the last I heard he was missing. As I've heard from various sources, he was lost too.

"Only four out of the 22 on our course came home."

The trip from RNZAF Base Whenuapai on October 15 to Egypt was flown in four legs there and another four legs back, including a day in Kuala Lumpur - a lot of travel for a 96-year-old to do in a week. But speaking to Mr Frame, it seems it was worth it.

"I was quite moved to be in that atmosphere. It was just remarkable."