2003
13-14 October 2003 Base Auckland's Emergency Response Team called out on a SAR for a missing tramper in the Waiwera's
2 October 2003 The Prime Minister welcomes home aircrew, maintenance, and support personnel from a three month deployment to Kyrgystan, called Operation Tui in support of efforts in Afghanistan
19 September 2003 An Iroquois of 3 Squadron made an emergency lading on a beech in the Guadalcanal weather coast while on deployment in the Solomons. The aircraft was removed to Henderson Field by HMAS Manoora.
15-16 September 2003 Thirteen Base Auckland personnel as part of the Emergency Response Team were called to a SAR in the Warkworth are
3 August 2003 The Ohakea Wing of the RNZAF Museum celebrated its 10th Birthday
7 July 2003 RNZAF is to send members as a part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to Afghanistan, and will be based at Bamian for twelve months
2 - 6 July 2003 The RNZAF Central Band Tours Tonga
2 July 2003 The first of the RNZAFs new Boeing 757s sees service with the transporting of the Governor General,staff and the Central Band to Tonga for the King of Tonga's 85th Birthday
30 June 2003 When Operation Bel Isi II drew to a close this day it was the culmination of over a decade of efforts to bring peace and security to the troubled island of Bougainville
26 June 2003 There was a national flypast by the Boeing 727s of 40 Squadron. They passed over Hamilton at 12.40pm en route to Palmetson North then to the South Island
23 June 2003 A C-130 Hercules had o make an emergency landing in New Caledonia after an engine cought fire. The Hercules was en route from Henderson Field in the Solomons to Ohakea when a feul leak was discovered. The Hercules was carrying 33 Army Engineers at the time.
June 2003 RNZAF 40 Squadron deployed 29 personnel to Canada for six weeks as a part of Exercise Maple Flag at RCAF Base Cold Lake
19 March 2003 Iroquois of 3 Squadron assisted the Navy in pre deployment training so as to familiarise Navy personnel with the operation of foreign types of Helicopters while deployed overseas
17 - 28 March 2003 Exercise SKYTRAIN was held at Timaru.
9 March 2003 A 40 Squadron C130 makes a dash to the Ice of Antarctica to uplift some 50 people who had missed the last flight home
9 March 2003 A P3 Orion was tasked with deploying from Dunedin to as far south as 70 degrees S in search of illegal boats fishing for Toothfish.
3 March 2003 An Air Force P3 Orion searched for the missing yacht RURU some 330 nautical mile west of Auckland, the yacht was located and taken under tow but three days later and only 10 km from shore the yacht samk.
28 February 2003 A scrub fire fuelled by hot summer conditions and driven by swirling winds burned quickly through tinder dry fields threatening the town of Bulls. Air Force firefighters assisted by up to 30 civilian firemen and Iroquois of 3 Squadron and their monsoon buckets battled the blaze
18 - 27 February 2003 Exercise Steel Talon. A training exercise designed to get 3 Sqn back to its core business of multi-ship, tactical formation flying
11 - 16 February 2003 Aircraft of 5 Sqn and 40 Sqn partake in the Avalon Air Show at the Avalon Airfield located west of Melbourne Australia
10 February 2003 A Tri-service parade was held in Wellington to mark the homecoming of the troops of all services that had partaken in the East Timor deployment. 1500 soldiers, sailors, & airmen on parade.
27 January 2003 Wing Commander Ron Thacker takes over as the CO of 3 Sqn
20 - 31 January 2003 Aeromedivac Course Held at RNZAF Base Auckland.
17 January 2003 A 5 Squadron P3 Orion flew over the Ross Sea in Antarctica in search of illegal fishing vessels
15 January 2003 A 5 Squadron P3 Orion flew over to Fiji to survey the damage from Cyclone Ami that ripped through the northern Fiji Island of Vanua Levu. This was followed by a Hercules load of supplies and water purification equipment
6 January 2003 Wing Commander Stu Mackenzie takes over as new CO of Base Auckland
