No. 25 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force was formed at Seagrove, Auckland in July 1943 with Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers and served in the Southern Pacific based at the Piva Airstrip on Bougainville, flying missions against Japanese forces on Bougainville and at Rabaul. It was disbanded in May 1944 and reformed as a fighter/ground attack squadron flying F4U Corsairs. It served in Santo, Guadalcanal, Los Negros and Emirau, before returning to New Zealand and being disbanded in September 1945. A SBD-4 Dauntless operated by 25 Squadron was for a time preserved in the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum at Wigram, displayed in the condition which it was recovered after being lost with its crew while on a training mission at Espiritu Santo. One of the SBD-5 aircraft operated by 25 Squadron has been restored to flying condition in America for the "Planes of Fame" museum, in the colour scheme of an American aircraft.
Formation
25 Squadron was formed at Seagrove, near Auckland, on 31 July 1943 with twelve crews and a maintenance unit. This was later increased to eighteen crews. The commanding officer was Squadron Leader Theodore Jasper Maclean de Lange (born Simla 16 June 1914, died Rotorua 4 July 2005), a burly and moustachioed figure who later became the Air Member for Personnel. He became a CBE in 1965 and retired in February 1966. Other members of the squadron were mostly from the army co-operation and anti-aircraft units, with an average age of 23 years, although at least one pilot (Leslie McLellan-Symonds b. 1911) was older than de Lange.
The initial supply of aircraft was nine SBD-3 aircraft from MAG-14. These machines were reputed to be veterans of the earlier Pacific battles and were in poor condition.
For the next few months the crews trained while the maintenance personnel struggled to keep the aircraft flying, requesting and receiving several more SBD-3 (and later SBD-4) machines from the Americans to maintain operational numbers. The aeroplanes were operated in their original USMC markings with squadron numbers painted on, until being "brought on charge" in November 1943. On completion of initial training, the squadron celebrated by flying eighteen aeroplanes over Auckland just before luncheon on 6 January 1944, to the great interest of the civilian population.
Espiritu Santo
On 30 January 1944 squadron personnel were flown by Lodestar and C-47 aircraft of 40 Squadron to Espiritu Santo for further training with American units. A further supply of eighteen SBD-4 aircraft were awaiting them, but these were almost as decrepit as the machines they had left behind in New Zealand. Nevertheless, the squadron was able to complete training in gunnery, dive-bombing and formation flying. It was during this training period that NZ5037 went missing with both crew members while on a practice Beam Approach. Despite extensive searches no trace of the 'plane or its crew was found. NZ5037 remained lost in the jungle until 1987 when it was located and returned to New Zealand by 3 Squadron.
The squadron received eighteen new SBD-5 aircraft in February 1944. The intention was to deploy the squadron immediately at Piva Airfield on the island of Bougainville, but due to the tenuous state of the Allied beachhead on the island, deployment was delayed until the risk of shelling on the Piva Airfield had reduced.
Bougainville
25 Squadron flew in its SBD-5s to Guadalcanal on 22 March, escorted by four Venturas and one C-47 from 40 Squadron. A Catalina from 6 Squadron stood by at Halavo Seaplane Base in the Florida Islands as a safety aircraft. At Guadalcanal NZ5055, piloted by F/O Bruce Graham, swerved on landing at Henderson Field and collided with an oil-drum, the plane was written off. From Henderson Field the squadron flew to Piva Airfield on 23 January. While in transit, the gunner in NZ5063 inadvertently fired his stowed machine-guns and caused considerable damage to the fuselage. The guns were not supposed to be able to be fired while pointed at any part of the aircraft. Upon landing at Piva, the New Zealanders found themselves on a narrow beachhead, with Japanese forces shelling and attacking the perimeter.
The first mission flown from Piva was an artillery-spotting exercise undertaken by MacLean de Lange and his gunner at 06:15 on 24 March. Over the course of the day, the squadron flew three more sorties against the Japanese. So close were the enemy, that during one of these raids, ground crew on the airstrip were able to watch the pilots drop their bombs.