// Exercise Wiseowl
By W/O Greg “Horse” Backhouse
The Royal New Zealand Air Force’s bi-annual Exercise Wiseowl was held from 21 September to 01 October at Whakatane.
Wiseowl 2009 was the 93rd exercise of its kind to be run in New Zealand. The purpose of the exercise is primarily to train student pilots in deployed Operations, where they are trained in the formation phase of their training. The Exercise also enables Camp Warrant Officers and Ground Trade personnel to train in deployed operations.
Led by Squadron Leader Paul Stockley, and organised and run by Warrant Officer Greg Backhouse, the exercise was largely successful despite the terrible weather. Approximately four days of flying were lost during the exercise due to extremely poor weather conditions. There were thunderstorms, bouts of torrential rain, and very poor visibility. Just to top it off, a tsunami warning was thrown in.
These conditions resulted in a non-existent horizon and severe turbulence, which was an unsuitable environment for the students to learn and practice formation flying. A common phrase heard from the locals was, “it’s never like this—normally the weather is fantastic”. Yeah right!
Despite the forecast of some squally showers, the Open Day went ahead as planned. This was a combined effort from the RNZAF and the Whakatane District Council, and we saw a very successful day unfold with up to 8,000 people attending throughout the day.
The Open Day provides an opportunity for the New Zealand public to see how the RNZAF lives and works in an operational environment, and also to enjoy some great flying displays. This is where I like to think that we give something back to the New Zealand people for free!
There was a mixture of military and civilian displays including the Pilot Training School Zucchinis’ (Instructor’s Flying Team), No 3 Squadron’s Iroquois winching display and Sioux sorties, and a No 40 Squadron Boeing 757.
There were also some fantastic ground displays and demonstrations including a race between a Ferrari, a Robinson R44 helicopter, and a Yamaha R1 motorbike. The motorbike won convincingly—this was one of the highlights of the day.
Other real crowd pleasers were the several approaches and overshoots made by an RNZAF 757. This saw one of the largest aircraft, ever, to visit Whakatane skies.
Feedback from the local community regarding our presence in the district was very positive—to the point that they wanted firm assurances that we would be back very soon. This emphasises to us that our Air Force is highly valued in its New Zealand home town.
Historical background
It may interest history buffs to know that the very first Wiseowl was in fact dubbed Redowl, and was deployed to Nelson in July 1969.
The name was changed to Wiseowl in November 1975. We have it on good authority (from an ex serviceman who served on the first Redowl) that this was due to a perceived communist connotation that the wording may have conveyed. Those were the days!