24/04/2026
ANZAC DAY and Rancom St Studios
Herein lies the reason behind the DH 82 Tigermoth propeller that is mounted on the front wall in the Rancom St Studios control room.
It is a tribute to my father, Ivan Alfred Porter.
My dad was born in Hamilton, New Zealand on September 27, 1921. Born and raised in the Waikato, the son of a farmer, just out of Hamilton in Te Kowhai, a dairy farming town.
Dad was accepted into the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1942. He was 21 years old. He began his training in Ashburton , near Christchurch in the South Island.
He took his first training flight on May 3, in 1943, in a DH 82 Tigermoth, and flew his first solo flight on May 13.
In August, his training continued in Canada in a single engined North American Harvard aircraft.. then in December, trained in the multi engined Avro Anson at Summerside at Prince Edward Island.
From there, across the Atlantic to the UK where he trained at Southrop in May 1944 in Airspeed Oxfords.
In August 1944, he began training in PBY Catalinas, at Killadeas in Northen Ireland…
And finally, he joined RAF 210 Coastal Command Squadron at Sullom Voe on Nov 24, in the Shetland Islands, far north of Scotland, in the bleak North Atlantic ocean.
His first flight on active duty occurred on Jan 6, 1945, as 2nd Pilot on an anti U Boat patrol. Dad eventually flew on more than 36 active duty flights out across the North Atlantic, on long Uboat patrols and convoy escorts until the end of May.
Following the German surrender, dad volunteered to fly Liberator repatriation flights bringing UK troops back home after the war until Aug 30. Dad arrived back in NZ about 20, Dec, 1945, and resumed his diary farming life.
Along with my father, on ANZAC DAY, while watching the sun rise over Bondi Beach RSL Club, I also take pause to remember, my Grandfathers Porter and Bregman who served in the army on The Western Front, and India in WW1, and my Uncle Dick who served in the army in the Pacific in WW2.
A note on the RSS Tigermoth propellor ….
As inscribed on the centre hub…
DH 82, RAAF.1, Gypsy Major.1, LH Tractor, Mar. 1942
