Captain Ronald Burns Bannerman

The son of an accountant, Ronald Bannerman was born in Invercargill on 21 September 1890. Educated at Otago Boys’ High School, he afterwards studied law at the University of Otago. One of twelve new pupils enrolled at the New Zealand Flying School in March 1916, he passed his flight tests in December and some time after this sailed for the United Kingdom.

After a further period of instruction at various RFC training units (and amassing 53 hours flying time solo in the process), he joined 2nd 79 Squadron in France on 16 February 1918. This unit was equipped with Sopwith Dolphins. 
 
There would be no lack of action in the months to come for the New Zealander, given the intensity of 1918 operations, but at first, combat victories were hard to come by. However, in August he began a run of scoring which eventually saw him credited with seventeen "kills" by the Armistice, a total which placed him second among 79 Squadron’s most successful pilots. Seven victories were scored in September alone, including a double on the 16th. A noteworthy feature of his combats was the comparatively low altitudes at which they occurred; none of his victories were achieved at a height greater than 5,000 ft. It gives some indication of the effort being put into ground attack work by 79 Squadron’s Dolphins at this late stage of the war. 
 
Bannerman’s Combat Reports were generally models of brevity, as the following example (19 September) shows: "I was trying to get east of a two-seater when a Fokker began circling over me. I fired at him with my top gun and he then dived on me and I got on his tail. I fired a long burst and he dived vertically; on trying to pull out, he broke up." He was promoted to Captain and Flight Commander on 8 September, and further recognition came his way during that month with the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross. A Bar followed in October, the recommendation for this complimenting his performances in glowing terms: "A very daring and skilful leader who has done excellent work in leading this flight, he has had a marked effect on the morale of his Squadron." At the Armistice he had brought his flying time up to 396 hours, and had carried out approximately 190 patrols, escorts and other missions with his squadron. Bannerman was not transferred to the Unemployed List of the RAF until 16 August 1919, and in the immediate post-war period was kept active with further duty both in France and England. This enabled him to push his flying time up past 500 hours before closing his log book for the last time. No more flights were recorded after early June. 
 
As a civilian back in New Zealand, a long career as a barrister and solicitor lay ahead for Bannerman, and he had little to do with aviation in the next twenty years. Nevertheless, he was back in uniform for administrative duties with the RNZAF during the Second World War, finishing with the rank of Air Commodore. With the arrival of peace once more in 1945 he resumed his legal work. 
 
Ronald Bannerman died in retirement at his home in Gore on 2 August 1978, aged 87.