About Us

Antonov arrival at Base Ohakea ✈ Today, Base Ohakea welcomed the colossal Antonov AN-124 aircraft, delivering essential components for the construction of our new P-8A Poseidon training facility. This marks a significant milestone in enhancing New Zealand's maritime patrol capabilities.

An integrated project team, led by the Ministry of Defence, is working with Boeing to install the facility, which will include a life-sized flight simulator housed inside No. 5 Squadron’s purpose-built Te Whare Toroa building.

The facility is part of the existing $2.3 billion project that delivered four Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in 2023, along with mission systems, ground support equipment and spare parts.

The training facility at Base Ohakea will be completed and ready for use in 2026.

Multilateral Exercises.

Personnel from No.5 Squadron and a P-8A Poseidon aircraft were recently in Japan taking part in multilateral exercises with Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and the United States Navy.

The exercises, which took place in the Pacific Ocean, in the vicinity of Japan, were aimed at strengthening cooperation between partners.

Mar 2025

P3 Tail Fin Monument

CO Base Auckland has secured one of the P3 tail fins from our old fleet. We are presently discussing design and placement of the fin on base at Whenuapai.

The Base Commander has invited 5 Sqn Association to lead the fund raising for the plinth. The committee will get more details to you as they come to hand.

Keitou kalawaca na wasaliwa

Logan Cudby

Chairman

5 Squadron Association

New Command for No.5 Squadron

Wing Commander Mark Chadwick’s career has skyrocketed from his early days as a aircraft technician.

His latest peak is as commanding officer of No. 5 Squadron, which forms our cutting-edge Airborne Surveillance and Response Force with four P-8A Poseidon aircraft.

A change of command ceremony was held at Base Ohakea on 10 December.

The Poseidon can conduct a range of tasks including aerial surveillance of areas of interest such as New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone, as well as fisheries in the South Pacific and the Southern Ocean.

Wing Commander Chadwick said the Poseidon was the world’s most advanced maritime patrol aircraft and is designed to find and monitor targets on and below the water.

“Like the P-3K2 that came before it, the P-8A can drop sonobuoys and torpedos in the anti-submarine warfare role." ~ Wing Commander Mark Chadwick

Eyes in the sky

Our P-8A Poseidon has supported the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) by seeking to identify illegal fishing activity during the large multinational Operation Kurukuru.

With more than 2000 vessels spotted by satellite in the area of operations, our crew covered 135,000 nautical miles squared and imaged 54 vessels to be assessed by authorities for breaches of regulations.

Personnel and assets from France and the United States joined forces with the 15 member states to patrol the exclusive economic zones and adjacent high seas pockets of Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Republic of Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities pose a significant threat to the economic stability and food security of Pacific Island nations, and undermines regional efforts toward sustainable fisheries management.

We're proud to work with our partners and neighbours to support conservation management and compliance with fishing regulations in the Pacific region

Nov 2024

Sept 2024

I t was the first RIMPAC the Poseidon had taken part in since joining the Air Force fleet. The Royal New Zealand Navy also sent a crew on HMNZS Aotearoa. The Defence Force contributed about 250 personnel to the exercise including the Poseidon’s crew, an air detachment, Aotearoa’s crew, operational divers from HMNZS Matataua, medical personnel, a dental team and other New Zealand Defence Force personnel operating in various headquarters and supporting units. The biennial multi-national combined exercise, hosted by the United States Navy, focused on all aspects of maritimebased warfare disciplines. It involves nearly 30 nations, 40 surface ships, three submarines, 150 aircraft and 25,000 personnel. Air warfare specialist Corporal (CPL) Ben Kingston-Smith took part in nine missions on the exercise. He specialises in acoustics and spent much of his time tracking submarines. “The first flights we did were in aid of testing equipment for electronic warfare. The rest were submarine warfare flights, operating around other nations’ ships and our role was to track submarines. “We were really successful in that role.” The idea was for the maritime aircraft to keep constant coverage of the submarines and pass information to other Air Forces, he said. “There would be a long period of time – around 16 hours – in which multiple vessels were coming in. The first plane would come in and track the submarine and they would do a hot-hand over to us and we would pick up where they left off.

We would then do the same for the next plane. “There was a lot of communication with aircraft during handovers for deconfliction of flight paths and hand over the relevant information.” The crew was receiving briefs from the American operations officers who were putting together the exercise packages for them, CPL Kingston-Smith said. “I had such a great time. It was an excellent exercise.” The team was working closest with the Americans, Canadians, Indians and British, he said. It was a vital exercise for working with our partner nations, CPL Kingston-Smith said. “We get far more beneficial training in terms of being able to work with real ships and submarines in a large maritime environment. Getting to work with the real deal make a huge difference for our training. “Another big part is interacting with other crews and where we can swap how we perform tasks and learning from other countries

Help!

We’re looking for more information on our fantastic 1/8th scale Lockheed P-3 Orion model. While we know a little bit about its origins, we are hoping some former RNZAF personnel can fill in a few blanks.

We believe the wooden model may have been built around 1965 in the carpenters’ workshop at Hobsonville in time for an open day and air display in January 1966.

It was in original colours back then, but repainted at a later date.

We are using the model as part of an upcoming exhibition and would love to know more. It is beautifully crafted and we’d like to acknowledge the team behind the work.

If anyone can shed some light, please contact communications@airforcemuseum.co.nz

P8 Flight Deck

An outing from the retirement home .Me second right reliving 5 Sqn days in Fiji. Cheers Murray Shearman

Air Force News Jun 23 issue 258

April 2023

Air Force News Issue 255 Mar 23

Good afternoon Association,

A merchandise stock take has now been completed and I can confirm there are no further Haere Ra patches or Retirement Port available. Chris Walker has done a phenomenal job of managing the merchandise sales so there are limited numbers of the following:

So, what's cooler than being cool? Chris thinks an Orion dropping a Mk-46 torpedo on an anti-submarine warfare mission stubby cooler is pretty cool.

Stubby Cooler: $15 (2 for $20)

Commemorate countless operations, hundreds of lives saved and 57 years of service with a high-quality A3 sized print.

A3 Print: $10 (If shipped, $20)

An in-depth timeline on the history of the Orion and 5 Squadron. No doubt there will be some familiar faces and moments for many of you. (Published 2006)

Kiwi Orions Book: $20

A commemorative coin which includes the brevets of those trades that made the Orion team.

Retirement Coin: $15

A commemorative brew aptly named 'Crew Lube".

Retirement Beer: $25 per six-pack

(100% of proceeds will be going directly to the retirement function for this aircraft)

To order: email p3retirement@nzdf.mil.nz with your merchandise requirements and contact details to arrange payment and delivery. The team manning the inbox will be in touch.

Pickup Base Whenuapai

Shipping is possible, but will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

To keep the prints safe, $5 is the best deal Chris found for a carry tube.

Thanks for the support,

Siale and team

Three ship farewell formation 24 Jan 2023. Old and New

Early 90s

Commemorative RNZAF P-3 Watch.

We’ve had a couple of our co-pilots working in the background to pull together a commemorative RNZAF P-3 watch. In a true understated 5 SQN manner we haven’t gone super flashy with this watch, but we have gone with quality and style, something we’ve always done well. An image of the obverse is located online and we have built in some subtleties to the rotors for that extra touch of personality and class. Additionally, these watches don’t cost the same as a DICASS buoy as we wanted to make them accessible to all of our members.

All details of the watch and how to order are noted below. This has been set up such that we do not need to order batches and these will be made to order and posted direct to you.

If you do make an order, please can you email FLTLT James Robertson-Bickers (James.Robertson-Bickers@nzdf. mil.nz) who is keeping a tally on all orders.

I will note, right at the moment you wont be able to order the Swiss movement watch with the black date wheel as it will not allow you to ‘add-to-cart’, so if this is your watch of choice it should be available from mid-late Feb for order.

Jump online to view the links and if you have further questions feel free to email FLTLT Robertson-Bickers direct and he will be able to answer or follow up for you.

I look forward to seeing many of these watches at the Retirement function!

Kia pai to ra

WGCDR Glen Donaldson
Commanding Officer No 5 Squadron - 5SQN, No 5 Squadron RNZAF
Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa | Royal New Zealand Air Force

P-3 Commemorative Watch

Place your orders now! email James Robertson-Bickers @ nzdf .mil.NZ

P3 ORION

The Kiwi Orions book can be ordered from https://biblio.co.nz/book/kiwi-orions-history-lockheed-p-3b/d/1131542571

5 Squadron RNZAF Association Trophy Recipients

The award includes a printed copy of the citation and an inscribed plaque to be retained by the recipient.

RECENT LOGON STATS BY COUNTRY

To register as a 5 Sqn Association member contact glen.moratti2@nzdf.mil.nz.