Page 25 - Chiron Winter 2020

The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF)
celebrated its 50th Anniversary last year. The Australian War Animal Memorial Organization (AWAMO) has recently donated funds to open a new memorial at the Michigan War Dog Memorial in the United States.
New Zealanders like all other nations took dogs to war from their first expeditions; they also adopted mascot’s in-situ. However, they were usually not official, in fact, the first government military working dog section was not formed until the mid-1960s.
Cry Havoc was the unofficial motto of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Police Dog Section, displayed on
all badges and plaques of the unit. The Dog Unit was first established back in 1967 when the RNZAF first purchased the P3 Orion Aircraft from the United States. Due to the sensitive nature of the electronic equipment on board these aircraft
it was stipulated that additional security measures had to be put in place to prevent unauthorised access to the aircraft. Dogs were chosen primarily for their vastly superior sense of smell, sharpness of hearing and a visual ability to detect even the smallest of movements.
The dogs could work in a variety of conditions and would reduce the manpower required for this task. Thus, the RNZAF Police Dog Unit was established and is still situated adjacent to the main gate at Base Auckland, Whenuapai airfield. Dog Handlers were initially security guards or General Service Hands (GSH).
They had the first of many
name and trade changes to come
in the 1970s becoming the Royal New Zealand Air Force Police Dog Section a sub-unit of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Police Corps,
the only Corps uniquely within
the RNZAF. All candidates were qualified RNZAF Policemen in
the General duties branch before
becoming Dog handlers. Candidates could also be selected
from the RNZMP and Naval Regulating Branch prior to a Corps change. The Role of the Royal
New Zealand Air Force Police Dog Section was to provide security to Air Force aircraft, sensitive facilities, VIPs and Tri-Service Support.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force maintained the only canine unit within the New Zealand Defence Force and as such all members
were capable of working in the field alongside Army Units with dog handlers receiving regular weapons and Infantry core training1.
In particular close co-opera on was developed between the Royal NZ Military Police (RNZMP) using RNZAF Explosive Detection Dogs (EDD) search teams and Military Working Dog (MWD) teams for Close Personnel Protection (CPP) and residential security details. Also,
the NZ Infantry and New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) used the dog sec on during Escape & Evasion training and SAS selection courses. To this end a large part
of the General Police dog course
was devoted to tracking in various terrains not just the type found within the confines of an Air Base. One aspect quite unique was
visual tracker training. This was taught initially by the Royal Army Vet Corps (RAVC) Instructors and became part of the dog course
during the tracking phase of the dog
course in particular ex-WOFF RAVC
2 Mick Martin .
The NZ Army did use dogs under the direction of the British Army
in the 1963 Malaysian Emergency.
It would take nearly 40 years till they established their own unit. Some NZSAS Troopers were trained by RAVC dog instructors. These reconnaissance or hunter-killer teams of 10-men was composed of two identical sub-teams, made up
of a team leader, a visual tracker, a radio operator, a cover man and a dog handler with a trained Labrador retriever. These teams took the
war to the enemy wherever he was hiding. The units were also known as Combat Tracker Teams (CTTs).
In the 1980s there were several Specialist dog teams in the RNZAF, explosive detection dogs (EDD)
and narcotic detection dogs (NDD). Again, it is incorrect of some NZDF sources reporting that the Army Engineers in early 2000 had the first EDDs. In fact, the RNZAF recruited Warrant Officer Mick Martin RAVC- British Army in the late 1970s
who went about transforming the RNZAF security dogs into much more true military working dogs in today’s sense being able to conduct combat tracking, criminal work and detection work. He also developed the RNZAF dog display team.
Mick who had completed several tours of duty in Northern Ireland
Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF)
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