Top gun leaves the skies after six decades of service – Stuff.co.nz

Sitting in his carefully curated home, surrounded by military emblems and aviation books, Jim Jennings smiles.

His eyes light up as he describes his countless adventures over his 60-year career as a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

He is the only person to ever fire rounds at a foreign ship in New Zealand waters, hes travelled the world for his country, and hed do it all again in a heartbeat.

The 79-year-old retired from the force last week, but his passion for the skies will never waver.

READ MORE:* Royal New Zealand Navy celebrates 21st birthday of Te Taua Moana Marae in Auckland* New Plymouth teenager excited by military career prospects after joining Navy* Meet three Kiwi women who serve their country on sea, land and in the air

Raised on a farm in Canterbury, Jennings knew he wanted a different life.

Mechanically minded, he used to watch as the planes would take off from Christchurch Airport in Harewood.

He was tempted by commercial flying, but why drive a bus when you can ride in a sports car.

Supplied

Jim Jennings sits in the nearest Skyhawk in a line-up at the hakea No. 75 Squadron tarmac.

Nothing made his blood boil quite like the rush of speeding through the sky in a jet plane, he said.

He joined the service in 1961 as an aircraft mechanic, but simply working on the fixed-wings wasnt enough.

If you enjoy something, and youve put your heart and soul into it, you can get it.

The itch to take the controls took hold of him, and six years later he took to the skies.

You suddenly realise everything is up to you. Theres a bit of pressure on but once you get that milestone you're away.

Its one of the best decisions I ever made.

He spent his time piloting jets like the Harvard Mk.II, the DH104 Devon, and the de Havilland Vampire, but it was the McDonnell Douglas A4-K Skyhawk that stole his heart.

Supplied

A Navy ship chases the Kin Nan fishing ship through Taranaki waters.

The Kin Nan, a Taiwanese squid boat, was lurking in New Zealand waters in 1976, which gave Jennings the story of a lifetime.

New Zealand was surrounded by fishing boats, he said. Just about every Asian country, plus the Russians, were pillaging our fisheries around the countryside.

There was very little policing going on because the Navy only had small patrol crafts that were designed for inshore work, not out on the high seas.

Navy ships were battling to bring Kin Nan in and away from the 12-mile invisible line that separated legal and illegal fishing. But, with limited firepower, they were helpless to stop them, Jennings said.

Two of these [Navy] patrol crafts had been chasing this Taiwanese fleet, which had been cruising the Taranaki coast, and had finally caught one of these boats in the 12 miles.

The boat turned due west and sailed and the Navy were in hot pursuit. They fired a few shots off the bow and the Taiwanese thing did not stop.

As Jennings returned from a practise bombing exercise in his Skyhawk, he was ordered to take flight again in search of the ship.

They just think, Theyre nice people they're not ogling to shoot at us, they havent got any Navy thats going to do much about it, Jennings said.

What we were doing was what we trained for all the time. The difference was we actually had something to stop.

With armour piercing ammunition he headed for the vessel.

It took something with a bit of firepower. I was the lucky guy in the right place.

In just over one second he fired 53 rounds, about 300 yards ahead of the ship.

They got the message loud and clear, he said.

It put up an awful lot of spray. It was huge. That little finishing boat stopped absolutely dead in its tracks. Unbelievably quick.

The crew was arrested and taken back to New Plymouth and charged.

Supplied

Jim Jennings stands in front of a Skyhawk at Base hakea in his final days of service.

Jennings was proud of the role he played in changingthe course of fishery protection.

You get an awful lot of satisfaction, not just personal, but youve done stuff for the country, you changed things.

It sent a very clear message back to other nations who were doing the fishing and poaching around New Zealand that we were prepared to take action.

His wife Faye and two sons have been at his side as he travelled the world following his passion.

He was grateful for the sacrifice they made when he moved them to Malaysia for almost three years, and for being patient when he was deployed to Iran for six months.

As he takes a step back from the ranks and back into civilian life, he was looking forward to taking some time to relax with Faye.

But if the opportunity comes, hell be back in the cockpit.

Read this article:

Top gun leaves the skies after six decades of service - Stuff.co.nz