The Wings Over New Zealand Show

About The Wings Over New Zealand Show

Aviation Podcast Archive

Publisher

Dave Homewood

Category

leisure

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Dec 2011

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

364 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   WONZ 362: The Phil Lamason Trust

   Guest: Mike Harold (Chairman of The Phil Lamason Trust) Host: Dave Homewood Recorded: ‎7th of October 2026 Released: 9th of October 2026 Duration: 2 hours 4 minutes 23 seconds Dave Homewood talks with Mike Harold of Dannevirke, Mike is the chairman of the Phil Lamason Trust, which is a group that is doing its best to ensure the memory of one of New Zealand’s bravest men is not forgotten. Squadron Leader Phil Lamason, DFC and Bar, was a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force during the Second World War. After undertaking flight training in New Zealand, he was shipped to the UK and was attached to the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command. He flew his first tor of operations with No. 218 (Gold Coast) Squadron, RAF, on Vickers Wellingtons and Short Stirlings. He was awarded his first Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) while on this squadron and he managed to get his aircraft and crew back to the safety of England after it his Stirling suffered a bad fire in the air. His second tor was with No. 15 Squadron RAF, on Avro Lancasters. It was halfway through this tour that Phil’s aircraft was shot down while attacking railway yards in France. Managing to escape the stricken aeroplane and parachuting to safety, he was picked up by French Resistance workers and with his navigator Ken “Chappy” Chapman, he was passed off down the Comet Line, an escape route for downed airmen. However, unfortunately one of the contacts on the line was a doble-agent and they were handed over to the Gestapo. Following a bad stay at Fresne prison, Phil was among 168 downed airmen moved from there by train on a harrowing journey to a new prison – not a Prisoner of War camp as they’d hoped, but in fact Buchenwald concentration camp. By the time they arrived, Phil Lamason had already taken charge of the multi-national bunch of Allied airmen. Over the next two months he rallied his fellow captives, he made friends with other prisoners already there in Buchenwald, and he continued to stand is ground and challenge the Gestapo camp staff. His bravery kept the morale up among his men and almost all survived the ordeal by the time the Luftwaffe got wind that they were being illegally held there and got them moved to a regular P.O.W. camp. Mike Harold, who grew up as a neighbour to the Lamason family and knew Phil personally, tells his story in detail. He also talked about the books about Lamason and the new memorial to his memory and all the airmen who were held at Buchenwald, which is being unveiled in Dannevirke on the 28th of November 2026. (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/WONZ_362.jpg) Quick Links: •  The Phil Lamason Trust Official Website (https://phillamason.com/) •  Phil Lamason on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066906134888) • Ric Martini’s site Buchenwald Airmen (https://www.buchenwaldairmen.com/) • WONZ 136 – Ric Martini on The Lost Airmen of Buchenwald (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/2017/02/ric-martini-buchenwald/) • Mike Dorsey’s The Lost Airmen of Buchenwald on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/lostairmen/) • Phil Lamason on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lamason) • Allied Airmen at Buchenwald on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_airmen_at_Buchenwald_concentration_camp) • I Would Not Step Back by Hilary Pedersen and associated writers on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com.au/Would-Not-Step-Back-Squadron/dp/1911255398/ref=sr_1_1) • A One Way Trip graphic novel on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com.au/One-Way-Trip-Lamasons-Story/dp/1915335817) (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/61qvfiCDIML._SL1500_.jpg) (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/71Jv8C5INrL._SL1499_.jpg) (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/AVRO_Lancaster_LM575_LS-H_Crew.jpg) (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Dannevirkes_Phil_Lamason.jpg) (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Phil_Lamason.jpg) (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/825327450_1427339172839607_7373719870586615037_n-scaled.jpg)

2. 

   30 Sept 2026

   WONZ 361 – Evader

   Guest: Chris Newey Host: Dave Homewood Recorded: ‎28th of September 2026 Released: 1st of October 2026 Duration: 43 minutes Dave Homewood chats with Chris Newey about his latest book, Evader: On The Run In Wartime Europe – A Brief Account. The book focuses on the story of RNZAF pilot Ron Clark who was shot down in an Avro Lancaster bomber over occupied Europe. Landing by parachute on the Dutch-Belgian border, Ron was helped by locals and was put on the Belgian Lifeline, which was a network of brave people who assisted downed airman to get back to neutral and Allied territory. But unfortunately Ron was eventually betrayed to the Gestapo, and he ends up as a prisoner of war. Chris explained how this book came about: “In March 2020, NZ Bomber Command Association President Bruce Hebbard received an email from a Belgian woman, Evi Verhaert. The subject line read ‘How can I find relatives of a New Zealand aviator shot down in Belgium?’. Evi’s grandmother had guided a shot-down New Zealand pilot from one safe house to another in Antwerp in August 1944, when she was only 17 years old. Her father was a local organiser for ‘De Witte Brigade’, one of the Belgian underground organisations that helped run a sanctuary for evaders in the cellars of a bombed-out hospital. She delivered him safely to the care of the nuns who ran the hospital but never knew what happened to him after that. Over the years she had wondered, and had often told her children and grandchildren the story of “that New Zealand soldier”. Anna Julia “Julleke” Van Craen was by now 93 years old. With time on her hands during the COVID lockdown, Evi had offered to see if she could find him. A previously unseen document amongst her grandmother’s things named one of the hospital “refugees” as “Ronald Thomas Clark, Greystreet 27, Onehunga–Auckland”. She quickly found information online that appeared to confirm Clark had stayed at a hospital in Antwerp. Could we help find him or his family? Bruce passed the enquiry on to NZBCA Executive Officer (the late) Peter Wheeler who passed it on to me, as Ron Clark had served with 75 (NZ) Squadron, my specialist area. I knew a little bit about Ron’s story and had a connection; he was shot down on his very first “second dickey” op in Lancaster ND802 JN-D, the predecessor of my uncle’s Lancaster, HK601 JN-D. I was already in contact with the cousin of the pilot the night they were shot down. Sadly Frank Scott, from Christchurch, had been killed, along with Bomb Aimer Steve Cook from Invercargill, and Wireless Operator Ron Howson from Leicester. The other five survived. Author Max Lambert had written briefly about the incident in his book “Victory”, quoting from Ron Clark’s own account of that night. I emailed Max, who very kindly helped us obtain copies of Ron’s original POW Liberation and Escape & Evasion Reports. These provided further confirmation that Ron was in fact Julleke’s “soldier”. Sadly, we next found that Ron had died in October 2000, but through his funeral records were able to trace his family, in particular Christine, Ron’s oldest daughter and the family historian. Christine has carefully preserved all her father’s letters, photos and memorabilia and is very happy and proud to share them. She explained it was only in later years that Ron opened up about his dramatic wartime story, much to the family’s astonishment, and only then that he attempted to write it down. In 1991 he wrote his most detailed “brief account”, around which this book is based. It is an amazing story of evasion and survival, and one that has only become more fascinating as we have discovered more details through the many letters Ron received from his Belgian helpers after the war, through diaries and letters kept by his crewmates, through documents kept by Julleke and through our own research. Dutch aviation historian Henk Brul joined the team, helping us understand the crash and trace the surviving crew members’ evasion efforts. Then Evi made contact with a relative of one of the key De Witte Brigade operatives who had written about the drama that was playing out behind the scenes as Ron Clark was passed along the compromised escape line. In 2025 I had the privilege of meeting Julleke, Evi and Henk, and of visiting the crash site and the graves of the three crewmates lost that night. Re-tracing Ron’s steps from Holland into Belgium, and eventually Antwerp, and talking with the Verhaert family helped me understand something of the nightmare it must have been living under occupation. It has been six years. As the story grew it became clear that it needs to be told. As a record of the bravery and resilience of “that New Zealand soldier” and his crewmates, and as a tribute to the selfless bravery of the many unsung civilian heroes of the war, good people like Julleke and her family. Ron’s admiration and gratitude could be passed on, in his own words. Finally, we are able to give Julleke the full story of what became of her New Zealand soldier.“ EVADER – ‘A Brief Account’, by Chris Newey, with Evi Verhaert & Henk Brul Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aviation Books Limited, UK (25 August 2026) Paperback: ‎ 148 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1915335884 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1915335883 Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 0.8 cm • The New Zealand Bomber Command Association (https://www.nzbombercommand.co.nz/) • The New Zealand Bomber Command Association Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072167750769) By The Book Here • Air Force Museum of New Zealand Shop • The Great British Book Shop (https://www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk/products/evader) • Amazon (https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1915335884/) (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Untitled-1.jpg) (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/EVADER-Front-cover.jpg) The front cover of Evader (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/EVADER-Back-cover.jpg) The back cover (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/RonClark-DulagLuft-ID-13Sept1944-1.jpg) Ron Clark’s POW photo taken at Dulag Luft-ID on the 13th of September 1944 (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Julleke-with-her-book-7-Sept-2026.jpg) No longer wondering what happened to her ‘soldier’. Julleke with her book, photographed on the 7th of September 2026. The music at the end of this episode is Wild Flower by Joachim Karud.

3. 

   26 Sept 2026

   WONZ 360 – Don Fleming

   Guest: Wing Commander Donald Ferguson Fleming, retired, RNZAF, known as Don Host: Dave Homewood Recorded: ‎22nd of January 2026 Released: 26th of September 2026 Duration: 2 hour 37 minutes 27 seconds Dave Homewood sits down with Don Fleming, who grew up in the wild back blocks of the Whanganui River in the 1930s and early 40s. He got interested in aviation while at New Plymouth Boy’s High School as a boarder. And he was inspired when Squadron Leader Bob McKay flew the country’s first jet, Gloster Meteor NZ6001, over his school. Don joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1950, hoping to become a pilot, but instead finding himself training as an engineer. After training he was posted to No. 75 Squadron who were still operating de Havilland Mosquitoes, but this did not last long because he swapped his posting with a friend, and he ended up on No. 14 Squadron RNZAF which had just been re-equipped with and were converting onto de Havilland Vampire jets. Don was on the Advanced Party of No. 14 Squadron when they deployed to Nicosia in Cyprus in October 1952, and he was assigned as the mechanic who looked after pilot Stuart McIntyre’s Vampire. He talks about life on the squadron at Cyprus, and the squadron’s Coronation tour in Africa. He tells how at the end of his Cyprus tour, a last minute decision to fly to England to meet the RNZAF Handley Page Hastings there and catch it to fly home (instead of waiting for it to reach Cyprus) nearly ended in disaster with him stuck there. But he ended up at Pembroke Dock in Wales where he joined the crew of newly purchased Short Sunderland MR.5 NZ4115, which was being ferried to New Zealand. He tells about how the hull was holed in Egypt and he had to find a way to stop water rushing in. And then further incidents along the trip to New Zealand. Don was commissioned and spent time as a Transport Officer at RNZAF Shelly Bay. During that time he studied by correspondence for a New Zealand Certificate in Engineering. He passed that and was then sent off by the RNZAF Engineering Branch to England for a post-gradate course at the College at RAF Henlow. Following the RAF course, Don was posted in as second-in-charge of the Airframe Reconditioning Squadron at No. 1 Repair Depot, RNZAF Base Woodbourne. He then did a crash course at No. 2 Technical Training School, Wigram, to refresh his avionics knowledge, before being sent to NAS Moffett Field in the USA where he joined the RNZAF team who were learning all about the Lockheed P-3B Orion. They were responsible for receiving the RNZAF’s new fleet of five Orions from Lockheed. Once the Orion mission was completed, Don was back at Whenuapai and posted to No. 40 Squadron, looking after the Lockheed C-130H Hercules. And then he was back to Wellington, working in Air Department. After three years at Air Department Don was planning to leave the RNZAF, but instead he found himself posted to London as the Engineer Officer representative. He was involved in overseeing the building of the BAC167 Strikemaster fleet and the Westland Wasps. He was at the launch of the Royal New Zealand Navy’s frigate HMNZS Canterbury and went on its sea trials with the Wasp Flight. When his London posting ended, Don returned to New Zealand as chief training officer of the RNZAF, looking after all the training and exams. He retired with the rank of Wing Commander in 1976, or 1977. When he left the RNZAF after more than quarter of a century, he went to work with U.E.B (United Empire Box), and he ended up managing and rescuing a paper bag factory in Wellington. Once he had put that factory back on it’s feet, he was then shifted to manage the Bremworth Carpet Mill. And then he was shifted again to manage Roxburgh Furniture, in Te Atatu. Don’s next role was heading up the textile and apparel trade training board. And he became trade training officer for the security guard industry. And then he joined Hawker Pacific as quality control manager and worked there for eleven years, till he retired in 1983. In retirement Don kept busy, serving for around a decade as a member of the Aeronautical Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and Chairman of the Auckland Branch of the RAeS. He also worked with for years with Geoff Rodliffe in building a replica of Richard Pearse’s Flyer, in association with MOTAT. They even took the aeroplane to England and displayed it with the engine running at Old Warden, and in Cornwall. Don also talks about working at Buckingham Palace Garden Parties, and working with Governor-General Sir Denis Blundall. (https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/WONZShow/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DSCN3814-scaled.jpg) Don Fleming in January 2026

Who has been a guest on The Wings Over New Zealand Show

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Martin Hedley
• Phillip Harrall
• Bob McGarry
• Anthony Galbraith
• Stephen Carruthers

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

6 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 65 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

94

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

90

Contact The Wings Over New Zealand Show

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Shows with a similar audience

• 

  Fighter Pilot Podcast

• 

  We Have Ways of Making You Talk

• 

  Dan Snow's History Hit

• 

  Airplane Geeks Podcast

• 

  The Ancients

• 

  The WW2 Podcast

Questions about The Wings Over New Zealand Show