| ZK
Documented pressure was spasmodic, but it always pointed to the kiwi as the ideal emblem, although on unsolicited drawing from a member of the public had a red southern cross as the roundel centre. An observant spectator at the opening of Rongotai (Wellington) airport made the point that the visiting were “zapped” with kiwis, not fern leaves! ( I vividly remember personally “zapping” aircraft at Tengah in 1968 and, yes, I used a kiwi!) An editorial in the Dominion of 21 October 1966 discussing New Zealand emblems generally during the aftermath of the Commonwealth Games, made reference to the RNZAF roundel, and this brought forth comment within RNZAF Headquarters that Woodbourne’s roundel should be adopted. Yes, pressure was also mounting within the service, and tradesman at Woodbourne had painted a large kiwi roundel and mounted it on the inside of a hangar wall where visiting officers could hardly fail to miss it.(I remember it well!)
In late 1969 the moves that were to spark change gained momentum with a letter from the CO of 41 Squadron (flying Bristol Freighters) in Singapore. Operating among a sea of RAF roundels, and a few kangaroo ones as well, he voiced strong objection to the unsatisfactory silver fern and suggested that a black kiwi would be more appropriate and easily recognisable. The AOC Operations Group sought opinions from others under his command. Unanimity was for the kiwi, and the AOC put a case to RNZAF Headquarters. In support, a red kiwi, allegedly based on the bird on the twenty cent piece but quite obviously from the concurrent two shilling piece, was painted on white cardboard and attached to the starboard fuselage roundel of Dakota NZ3553 and photographed (see attached photo). The Air Board were swayed.
It was some time, however, before a final kiwi design was to gain approval. The two shilling kiwi was judged unbalanced in the roundel setting, the mass being off-centre. On 29 July 1970 the AOC Operations Group forwarded a revised design, and with the approval of the CAS this was forwarded for consideration by the Defence Council. The latter approved the adoption of the kiwi on 8 September 1970 and the ZK was born. Implementation instructions soon followed and the change-over was under way.
The ZK roundels (and variation on it) looks set to stay. The pressure for change was completely dissapated with the adoption of the kiwi emblem, and the design has been popular among RNZAF personnel and, one suspects, almost universally recognised by foreign military personnel. The RNZAF uses the word “Kiwi” as its registered call sign (and had been doing so in South-East Asia before 1970), and New Zealanders abroad are known as kiwis in many parts of the world.
The kiwi is applied by stencil, and the roundel is normally carried in all six positions on non-camouflaged fixed wing aircraft, two positions on helicopters. Camouflaged aircraft normally have the starboard upper and port lower wing roundels omitted. The kiwi’s beak always face the direction of flight, and its feet point towards the ground on fuselage applications or the aircraft centre line when applied to wings. These specifications were not adhered to when the Andovers were having their roundels converted in the United Kingdom in 1976, and NZ 7624 had the kiwis on the wings both facing starboard with the feet towards the trailing edge. The error was spotted after the aircraft had arived in New Zealand.
Occasionally the kiwi will feature an ‘eye’ in white, but this is not part of the authorised design.
The next instalment will be the last in this series.
When I embarked on this tutorial I did not envision it extending to more than 40,000 words! It's just about worthy of a PhD thesis.
Should anyone have any styles they would like to see a further example of please let me know and I'll try and find an appropriate photo.
The two photos here show the cardboard mock up on a Dakota as mentioned in the text and the final design, in this case on C-130 NZ7002 prior to the camouflage scheme.
Last edited by Kiwi; 22-07-2005 at 11:49..
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