RNZAF Contact Magazine

Contact Magazine

On the 30th December 1940, half a dozen members of the RNZAF meet at Levin to form a
committee under the chairmanship of S/L Sinclair, the Station’s CO.

The intention was to inaugurate a Station Magazine, to be known as ‘Contact’.

It grew into a social journal that recorded all sorts of things of interest to personnel,
including Sports, News, Short Stories, Poetry, Profiles of famous airmen, Handy Hints
and Jokes.

The idea had been conceived by Leading Aircraftsman J Warren-Jones,
who became the first Editor.

The first edition was printed at Levin, with a print run of 2,000 copies, sold at 3 pence a copy,
and only reached the Levin Station.

The second edition, in April 1941, reached New Plymouth as well.

By the third edition in June, readership had extended to Ohakea as well.

Contact caught the imagination of Air Force Personnel and by August circulation was up
to 6,000 copies, thanks to the co-operation of New Plymouth and Ohakea
assisting in the production.

The original editor had been moved in July to go on active service.

At this time there were several other Station Magazines and Contact moved into the
territory of these other Station independent magazines.

These were:

Spitfire, at Rongotai [only three issues made it into print before being replaced Contact]

Windsock, at Woodbourne [nothing known]

Erk’s Work at Ohakea, [only three issues {the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington
holds a copy of issue one} were produced before it was replaced by Contact.

Taieonautics at Taieri [again only three copies were produced before being replaced
by Contact]

The Airman at Whenuapai. [produced at Whenuapai for Whenuapai and Hobsonville,

Starting in Dec 1940 by Eric Young, at Hobsonville, and Frank McCarthy at Whenuapai.

Twelve issues were printed were produced before it was decided to take up the Contact
magazine and make it the official magazine of the RNZAF.

Gen [an in-house newsletter for Air Department in Wellington. Copies of the four
magazines are held in Archives NZ].

Navigation News, [began in February 1945 and ceased production in August 1945.
no information on the contents, whether it was of a technical or social nature.]

The Corsair Courier, [published for Airmen in Bougainville during the Pacific War,

Copies are held by the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington]

Duffies Gen [was produced on Norfolk Island, at least eight issues were produced
between November 1944 and August 1945.
Named after of Norfolk’s most famous historical figures, the escaped convict
Barney Duffy.]

The Tiger Rag. [not strictly RNZAF, it as produced at Rongotai, De Havilland’s
factory for its workers.

Issued from July 1943 to February 1944, with eight issues.

A conference was held in Air Department on 4th October 1941 to discuss establishing
the Contact as the semi-official magazine of the RNZAF, over and above all the
other localized magazines.

This was agreed to, and this spelt the end of the other station periodicals.

Reasons for streamlining all the magazines into one included the fact that paper
and resources to produce a magazine were becoming increasingly scarce due to the
rationing brought on by limited importation, and one magazine was easier for
Air Department to keep a control of the content.

The magazine was recognized as being very good for morale and as a great way to
distribute information to airmen and airwomen across the country.

The magazine itself had began life in a large sized format of 276 x 220 mm with
around 48 pages.

The cover was coloured, though, at first, not full colour, and the contents was a
mixture of photos, stories, jokes and much more, almost all of which were contributed
by serving personnel.

The reading ranged from true aerial adventures to romanticized fiction, technical data
on aircraft and weapons, usually long after they had been in use.

There were sections on the more personal side of life as well, that personnel could relate
to as well as engagements, and weddings,

Some of these that were thought to be simply items of trivial interest have actually
recorded snippets of history, like the first baby born at Ohakea, or the photo of a
VC winners Wife receiving his posthumous medals.

The original Contact artist was LAC Peter Renai, who had been on the first issue team,
near the end of 1941 he was re mustered to aircrew and was replaced by
LAC Robert Maurice Conly.
He has just suffered the disappointment of being dismissed from pilot training following
a burst ear drum.
[He continued as the RNZAF artist until his death, rising to the rank of Wing Commander.]

Conly’s first Contact Cover appeared in the Dec 1941 issue, and featured a Lockheed P38
Lightning, an aircraft new to most NZ eyes at the time.

His covers grew and got more lavish in colour and he soon developed a style that would
see his career continue for many years as the official artist of the RNZAF, and would see
many of his designs appear on stamps and coins.

A shuffle in the organization of the RNZAF saw the Initial Training Wing leave Levin in
January 1942 and re-locate in Rotorua.

Contact moved with them and moved to an empty shop in Hinemoa Street in the
middle of the town.

Here the team of five, Maurice Conly. Artist, Sergeant Michael Ruane, still the editor,
WAAF Darry McCarthy, the sub-editor, Sergeant T Murray, the accounts clerk, and a
WAAF Typist, set up a nice little HQ for themselves.

The Governor General, Air Marshal Sir Cyril Newall, accompanied by the Chief of
Air Staff carried out an inspection.

The April/May 1942 issue had a format change, with the shortage of paper in mind.

This was not to the magazines detriment however as it had more pages to fill,
production costs had risen as well and the new style increased to one shilling per issue,
each issue having over 80 pages.

The yearly rate was altered to thirteen shillings, including post or ten shillings for
members of the services.

In June 1942 the Officer -in-charge of Contact, F/O Charles Turnbull, was posted to
No 8 GR [General Reconnaissance Squadron at Gisborne, as a Navigator,
and he was replaced in the role by F/O Bob Grimwood.

He was already known to the readers for his contributions as Ropata Kirimuwutu,
a Maori version of his name.

Tragedy struck the small team when their former leader, F/O C N Turnbull, NZ401448,
was killed when a No 8 GR Squadrons Vickers Viscount disappeared without trace
on a coastal patrol.

After overseeing just three issues F/O Grimwood was also posted, this time to HQ Wellington,
he was replaced by F/O Herbert Mountfort, who would remain in charge until he was
demobilized in August 1945.

The contributors were many one-off’s as well as the regular writers, some serious,
some humorous and some bizarre. some of the humour, excluding the topical stuff,
has stood the test of time and still rings true today.

Some writers used their real names like F/O Winton Keay or S/L J A Sherrett RCAF
contributed items from the Canadian point of view.

Most preferred to use pseudonyms

Ropata Kirimuwutu, F/L Andrew Robertson Grimwood [Robert] born 8th January 1907
in Auckland, served in J Force, and died in Lower Hutt on 6th June 2001.

Flying Officer X, H E Bates, of ‘Darling Buds of May’ fame, employed by the RAF to write
Air Force related short stories to help raise morale.

While not RNZAF related they connected with the many thousands of NZ’s in the
RAF and their families.

Truman Warsop, Geoffrey Bentley, he was an official war correspondent, he also wrote
for the illustrated weeklies and the NZRSA Review for many years.

Together with Maurice Conly they traveled widely through NZ and the Pacific, looking for
news for Contact and for newspapers through the NZ press Association.

Egbert the Erk, F/S Max Rogers, a GD clerk.

Wendy the WAAF & W.2126, Doris McLean, a real WAAF, a mess steward at Anderson Park,
Wellington.

Before the war she had been a writer for the NZ Woman’s Weekly.

In February 1944 another move saw the team relocate to Rongatai in Wellington,
and find offices in the Ex-Centennial Exhibition Buildings that had been taken over in
1941 for a training center for the Technical Training School prior to its moving to Nelson.

In October Sgt Conly was sent to the Pacific to cover the war for Conact readers.

A further move for the team was required when Rongotai Station closed, and they moved
to 33 Johnston Street.

Shortly after, now F/S Ruane, editor, was posted to Air Department and then overseas.

After VE Day, in July 1945, a last move was made to 27-29 Panama Street, two blocks away.

It was during this latter part of the war that Contact turned its attention mainly towards
the efforts of the RNZAF in the Pacific with both Conly and Montfort making trips to see
and report the efforts of the Pacific boys.

The printing runs got bigger from the inception, in April 1942 an issue was 9,500 copies,
between May and October 1943 this had risen to 11,000 copies per issue.

This increased to 12,000 in April 1944, 14,000 in May 1943, and reached its peak at
15,000 copies in October 1944.

By 1944 the circulation had reached the Pacific, India, the Middle East, the USA,
Canada, Great Britain and even Russia.

Initially the funds had been a struggle, but by the end, when all the profits were
given to the Welfare Fund, they had raised a total of 1,700 pounds.

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