Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...

Sir Leonard Monk Isitt (27 July 1891 – 21 January 1976) was a New Zealand military aviator and senior air force commander. In 1943 he became the first New Zealander to serve as the Chief of the Air Staff of the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...

, a post he held until 1946. At the close of World War II, Isitt was the New Zealand signatory to the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. After the war, following retirement from the Air Force, he worked as chairman of Tasman Empire Airways.

Early life

Leonard Monk Isitt was born on 27 July 1891 in Christchurch, New Zealand, the son of the Methodist minister, member of parliament and prohibitionist Leonard Monk Isitt and Agnes Martha Caverhill. Leonard Monk Isitt junior was educated at

Mostyn House Mostyn House School was a school that was originally opened in Tarvin, and moved to Parkgate, Cheshire, in 1855. From 1862 until it closed in 2010, it was run by the Grenfell family, originally as a boys' boarding school, and latterly as a co-educ ...

, Cheshire, England and Christchurch Boys' High School. He had one brother, Willard Whitmore Isitt (1894–1916), who was a Rifleman in the New Zealand Rifle Brigade in World War I and was killed in France on 31 October 1916.

World War I and air force service

Following the outbreak of World War I he enlisted in April 1915 in the

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

and was assigned to the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. After service in Egypt he then moved to the Western Front where he was wounded in the head during the New Zealand Division's participation in the Battle of Flers–Courcelette. The scalp wound resulted in him being sent to England to recover, where he was discharged from the NZEF in March 1917. On 10 May 1917 he was granted a probationary commission in the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

, which was confirmed a month later. He was assigned as a pilot to a reconnaissance squadron with most of his duties involving artillery cooperation. During his period he shot down a single enemy aircraft, before being transferred back to England to serve as a flying instructor. After volunteering for frontline service he was assigned to 98 squadron in October 1917, flying the

DH.9 The Airco DH.9 (from de Havilland 9) – also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 – was a British single-engined biplane bomber developed and deployed during the First World War. The DH.9 was a development of Airco's earlier successful ...

on bombing missions. Based at Abscon airfield he flew his first mission on 9 October when 10 aircraft attacked Mons railway station. During the raid they were attacked by 15 Fokkers and Pfalzes. Two other major raids followed on 14 and 23 October. The later raid, was on the Hirson railway station, which saw two aircraft of the squadron shot down. In addition to these bombing flights he was also undertaking aerial reconnaissance. In 1918 he was transferred to the Royal Air Force.Officers of the NZPAF
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Inter-war years

At the close of World War I, New Zealand had no military air organisation of any sort. On the request of the New Zealand government, the British Air Ministry sent Colonel (later Group Captain)

A. V. Bettington A is the first letter of the Latin and English alphabet. A may also refer to: Science and technology Quantities and units * ''a'', a measure for the attraction between particles in the Van der Waals equation * ''A'' value, a measure of ...

to New Zealand to advise on the establishment of an air service. Bettington brought four aircraft with him and they were based at Sockburn airfield (later to become

RNZAF Station Wigram Wigram Aerodrome is located in the Christchurch suburb of Sockburn, later to be split-suburb of Wigram and now split again as Wigram Skies. It was gifted by Sir Henry Wigram for the Canterbury (NZ) Aviation Company on 20 September 1916 and ...

). It was to this embryonic state of affairs that Isitt was to return. In 1919 Isitt, then a captain, was posted back to New Zealand where he was sent to Sockburn airfield to take care of the four aircraft and serve as commanding officer. Additionally Isitt served as the liaison officer to the Canterbury Aviation Company on behalf of the government. Between the wars, one of Isitt's responsibilities was pilot flight training and he served in the Air Ministry, the New Zealand Permanent Air Force (NZPAF) and the RNZAF. In 1937, the RNZAF was made independent of the New Zealand Army and at that time Isitt was promoted to wing commander and appointed as the Air Member for Personnel. In the pre-World War II build up this was a key post and Isitt was soon promoted again to

group captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

World War II

Continuing as Air Member for Personnel at the start of World War II, in March 1940 Isitt went to Canada as he had been appointed as New Zealand's representative on the board of Empire Air Training Scheme, a massive aviation training programme. In May 1942 Isitt was sent to London to establish the RNZAF's Overseas Headquarters, receiving a promotion to air commodore at the same time. Having accomplished his task, under a year later Isitt was back in New Zealand and in March 1943 Isitt became the New Zealand's Deputy Chief of Air Staff working under the then Chief of the Air Staff, Air Commodore Victor Goddard, a British officer on secondment. Around four months later on 19 July 1943 Isitt was appointed Chief of Air Staff of the

in the rank of air vice-marshal. He was the first New Zealander to hold his Service's senior appointment and the first to hold one of the air marshal ranks. In addition to securing a significant role for his Air Force in the South Pacific, Isitt represented New Zealand at conferences in London, Washington and Ottawa during World War II. He was the New Zealand signatory to the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on the USS Missouri marking the formal surrender of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese forces, so ending World War II.

Post war

Isitt retired in 1946 as Chief of the Air Staff and he became chairman of Tasman Empire Airways ( TEAL) in 1947. He continued as TEAL chairman until 1963 when he was succeeded by Sir Andrew McKee. Following his retirement as chairman of NAC and TEAL he served as chairman of Standard–Triumph New Zealand, Motor Assemblies Limited and then Leyland Motors of New Zealand until his final retirement in 1966. Together with Ronald Bannerman and Keith Caldwell he was instrumental in establishing the New Zealand 1914–1918 Airmen's Association in 1960. He died at Lower Hutt on 21 January 1976.

Personal life

Isitt married Elsie Gladys Caverhill (1896–1970) at Wellington on 26 April 1920. They had two daughters.

Honours

In 1935, he was awarded the

King George V Silver Jubilee Medal The King George V Silver Jubilee Medal is a commemorative medal, instituted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the accession of King George V. Issue This medal was awarded as a personal souvenir by King George V to commemorate his Silver J ...

. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1940 King's Birthday Honours, and a

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in the

1946 New Year Honours The 1946 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth Realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and to celebrate the passing of 1945 and the beginnin ...

. His medals are held at the

Air Force Museum of New Zealand The Air Force Museum of New Zealand, formerly called The Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum, is located at Wigram, the RNZAF's first operational base, in Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. It opened on 1 April 1987 as part of t ...

Notes

References

External links

Biography in 1966 Encyclopaedia of NZ
accessed 14 June 2008 * ttp://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/3677 Sustained effort : the life of Sir Leonard IsittDoctoral Thesis, Devon Sutcliffe, 2011 , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Isitt, Leonard Monk 1891 births 1976 deaths New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Air Force officers Royal New Zealand Air Force air marshals New Zealand military personnel of World War II New Zealand military personnel of World War I People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School Air marshals of World War II People from Christchurch Isitt–Caverhill family