Greetings Fellow Rotarians,

I always feel blessed when we go into fellow Rotarian’s homes for our social nights at the beginning of each month.  Not only do they open there homes but their hearts as well.

An interesting evening last meeting with an insight into the history and escapades of some of our military force personnel.

The first weekend of  ‘manning’ the Cancer Society pop-up shop has been completed and I want to thank those who helped.  A few hiccups but we will get there.  

A warm rotary welcome to returning member Judy Hanline and transferring member Simon Northrop.  Good to see new people join our club. Remember to talk to them and make them welcome 

 

Yours in Rotary

Sally
 

Guest Speaker: Stephen Bone 

 

 

Introduced by Des Friedrich

 

Stephen's address was about Marine Surveillance carried out by The Royal New Zealand Airforce Number 5 Squadron of which he was a former Squadron Leader.

More recently he has been with Helicopter NZ.

 

Surveillance historically was undertaken with amphibian aircraft until the retirement of The Sunderland Flying boats in 1967. One of these is on display at MOTAT in Auckland.

 

Stephen's experience is with flying the P3B Orion aircraft 5 of which were bought into service in 1965 and an additional one purchased from Australia 2 years later.

These aircraft are the oldest in continuous service in the world. The Albatross is the emblem of the Squadron.

The 3 objectives of the Service are to:

1.0 Defend new Zealand Territory

2.0 Protect our people and resources

3.0 Secure trade routes

 

Protection also extends to Tokelau, Ross Dependency,Cook Islands and Niue, hence the emblem being the albatross spanning so much territory.

 

1.0 Orions are used for submarine surveillance and to stop exploitation of under sea resources.

2.0 Patrols know what's going on the surface and use sophisticated technology for detection.

 

Patrolling for Fishery protection in the expanded zones from originally 3 mile to 12 mile in 1977. This was expanded to a 200 mile zone in 1988 because of continuous infringing by mainly Asian and Russian vessels. At one time there could have been up to 240 within 30 miles of the coast.

The Orions have an 11 member crew and can operate down to 200ft visibility range.

Their sophisticated radar equipment can be used to prove infringement. Indeed some Captains of vessels confiscated got so peeved with this that they took 4 cases to court in New Zealand challenging the NZ Governments decisions.

All cases were thrown out after lengthy trials because of the evidence the Squadron had on their positions.

 

He mentioned a very challenging Queens Birthday weekend in 1994 when a Storm hit a flotilla of yachts going from New Zealand to Tonga. This involved 22 people being plucked from their vessels,  one never found with 3 crew on board. The Orions played a big part in locating the yachts in difficulty to enable ships to effect the rescues.

Winds up to 70 Knots and 10 metre waves, loss of masts and lifeboats capsizes up to 360 degrees, terrifying conditions for both the rescued and rescuers.

The following Tube link is worth watching: The Cruising Documentary Queens Birthday Storm

 

https://youtube/Aa7KxGtUlAA

 

The Orions are to be replaced by 4 Boeing P8A- Poseidon's in 2024.

Pilots are currently being trained in America and the squadron is moving to Ohakea with excavation for new buildings currently in progress.

 

In thanking Stephen, Stephen Bovett congratulated him on a very interesting first hand insight into the history and current Maritime Surveillance in New Zealand.