Veteran takes to skies on Anzac Day

From left, Squadron Leader Jim Rankin, WWII veteran Phil Lightband, Squadron Leader Sean Perrett and Squadron Leader Oliver Bint after the Anzac Day fly-past. Photo/Gavin Conroy

An hour-and-a-half flight in a World War II torpedo bomber was a memorable way to spend part of Anzac Day for one Wanganui war veteran.

Phil Lightband was a passenger in a Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber which flew from Ohakea, over the Manawatu and then across Wanganui city late on Anzac Day morning.

It was a flight that Mr Lightband told the Chronicle was "very moving", given his background and the remembrance day.

During World War II he was a pilot with the RNZAF, and did two tours of duty in the Pacific flying Corsair fighters in Guadalcanal and Green Islands.

While he was a passenger in the Grumman, flown by Squadron Leader Jim Rankin, there were two other war birds in the flight, all of them owned by Marton collector Brendon Deere.

They included a Spitfire and a Harvard, flown by Squadron Leaders Sean Perrett and Oliver Bint respectively.

Mr Lightband said it was "a great flight".

"There had been a threat of rain, but we scudded around the clouds," he said.

He trained in Harvards before getting behind the controls of the Corsairs in the Pacific and had never flown in a Grumman before last Friday.

"They are totally different types of aircraft. One was a torpedo bomber [Grumman] while the Corsair was a fighter," he said.

And, no, Mr Lightband said he wasn't allowed to be at the controls of the Grumman.