EXPLOITS OF OUR FOREFATHERS –
A TRIBUTE TO
RALPH COURT By John Bayliss
Aged 90, James Ralph Court DFC ADC RNZAF (Ret) passed away peacefully 2 June 2010. He achieved Gold C No.2 (Dick Georgeson has No.1) and 3 diamonds.
Ralph joined the RNZAF in 1940, and flew Kittyhawks in combat in the Pacific region, completing his service in 1945 as Commanding Officer of No.22 Squadron flying Corsairs. His DFC was awarded later that year at the age of 25. On the other side of the globe, the UK furniture factory Elliots of Newbury had been converted to produce such iconic aircraft as the Hurricane, Spitfire, Mosquito and the troop carrying Horsa gliders. At war’s end its workforce was kept engaged churning out non-military gliders. Renamed the Olympia, these were a beefed-up version of the German designed 15m Meise (Tomtit) that had been selected as the one-class glider to take part in the planned 1940 Summer Olympics. Due to the war that event had been cancelled. In its day the Olympia was the epitome of streamlined beauty, however the glide was fairly challenging at 25:1. Lorne Welch had 24
August 2010
test flown all of the Elliots of Newbury (EoN) gliders. Spoilt for choice Ralph hand-picked the glider with the best test results for shipment to NZ. And the price was very good – lots of gliders, few customers. In 1950 this EoN Olympia 2B (091) – the fixed undercarriage variant – was the first glider registered in NZ: ZK-GAA. The glider was jointly owned by Gordon Hookings and Ralph. Their quest for 3 diamonds began in earnest. Gliding activities did not fit comfortably with the post-war aviation regulations and CAA needed guidance. The idea that Gliding could be an independent self governing body operating to a mutually agreed set of rules would be proposed to CAA. Having rejoined the Territorial Air Force (1952-55, latterly as Aide de Camp to the Governor General) the much-respected Ralph teamed up with George Bolt – charismatic aircraft technical engineer without equal – and Gordon Hookings, who drafted the embryo Manual of Approved Procedures. With Ralph as Chairman, Gordon as Secretary and George as Technical Officer the NZ Gliding Association
