Author(s): P. Norman

Aircraft & Air Forces

Tiger Moths and Butterflies: With the Airforce in War and Peace is the fascinating story of a schoolboy and his contemporaries during WWII. In 1942, Peter Norman and his friends were excited at the thought of escaping boyhood and getting into uniform to serve their country in the war. Desperate to take part in the action, they enlisted in the New Zealand Air Force, where unlike the Army, they would not need to wait until turning twenty-one before being sent overseas. In this beautifully written account, the reader is given an insight into the feelings of trepidation of a first solo flight in a Tiger Moth and the thrill of accomplishment. The book covers the period of training, both in New Zealand and in Canada, voyages in US troop ships across the Pacific, the exciting conversion to modern fighter aircraft, the companionship of a squadron and the inevitable loss of friends. Tiger Moths and Butterflies is a fully illustrated book with a wealth of photographs both private and official. It includes operating characteristics of four well-known wartime aircraft and how it felt to fly them. Peter Norman was born in Christchurch in 1924. He was educated at ChristâÂÂs College. After the war he returned to New Zealand where he took up a position with Thos Borthwicks and Sons and in 1982 he retired as Managing Director of that company. Norman was awarded the QueenâÂÂs Service Medal in 1976. He lives at Drummond Cottage in Greytown and is married with a son and daughter. Tiger Moths and Butterflies is his third book.