NZ pilots graduating from the Empire Air Training Scheme

Flight Officer R.H. Tonks (front row, eighth from left) was one of the 7002 New Zealand airmen who trained in Canada as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) before serving with the Royal Air Force in Europe and the Mediterranean.

Tonks would go on to serve in the 489 New Zealand Torpedo Bomber Squadron, one of the RAF’s seven ‘New Zealand’ squadrons – No. 75 and Nos 485–490 – set up under the EATS to maintain a symbolic link to the Dominion. Only 10% of the New Zealand airmen who graduated from the EATS ended up in one of the 'New Zealand' squadrons; the remainder served alongside pilots from Britain and other Dominions in various Royal Air Force squadrons.