by graron » Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:06 pm
My uncle, Ronald Matherson Grant, was captain of FP112 "Marlborough"(an aircraft he had never flown before) which crashed and burned off Pepel performing unauthorised low flying. All were killed save the co-pilot, a friend of Ron's, Frank Brittain. I rang Laurie Schwabe in 2003 and we talked about the squadron and specifically, the accident. I believe Laurie was to be Ron's new co-pilot, but on the day, Frank Brittain went for the test flight. The previous co-pilot, Tom Neave, was well known in NZ flying circles, and was patron of the Catalina Group of NZ (incidentally, Tom diced with death 50 years later on the first attempt to ferry a cat to NZ. It had to be put down in the sea and crew rescued by a passing freighter- but that's another story altogether!).
My son and I have done a bit of research and accumulated all sorts of information: accident reports, medical reports etc from archives. Any information that anyone can provide on the squadron (which Laurie called the "forgotten squadron") would be of great interest to me. I have my uncle's letters, photos ( none in Jui) and his log-book (plus medals, flying badges).
I was named after my uncle. My son and I flew on ZK-PBY when it was involved in the air-safari last year- a very poignant hour I can tell you.