Roy Oldfield Calvert
Born 31 Oct 1913 - Died 26 Mar 2002
- Service number
- WWII NZ404890 AWMM
- WWII 404890 AWMM
- Also known as
- —
- Armed force / branch
- Air Force AWMM
- Last rank
- WW2 Squadron Leader AWMM Royal Air Force, No. 630 Squadron AWMM
- War
- World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 31 Oct 1913 AWMM
- Date of birth
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- Place of birth
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- Birth notes
- —
- Address before enlistment
- Pre 1939 AWMM 127 Victoria Street, Cambridge, Waikato, New Zealand AWMM
- Post war occupation
- Farmer/Civilian AWMM
- Next of kin
- Florence May Calvert (fiancee), New Zealand AWMM
- Relationship status
- Pre 1942 AWMM Single AWMM
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM
- Campaign
- Europe (Air) AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Air Force AWMM
- Service number
- WWII NZ404890 AWMM
- WWII 404890 AWMM
- Military service
- Royal New Zealand Air Force attached to Royal Canadian Air Force AWMM
- Royal Air Force, No. 50 Squadron AWMM
- Royal Air Force, No. 50 Squadron AWMM
- Royal Air Force, No. 630 Squadron AWMM
- Royal Air Force, No 630 SquadronPublic - Antonio - Researcher - 7 August 2025 - By Such Deeds p.112: Colin M Hanson
- Royal Air Force, No.1660 Heavy Conversion UnitPublic - Antonio - Researcher - 7 August 2025 - By Such Deeds p.112: Colin M Hanson
- RNZAF 1 December 1940 to 15 March 1945Public - John - Researcher - 25 March 2021 - C Hanson By Such Deeds
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- Squadron LeaderPublic - John - Researcher - 25 March 2021 - C Hanson By Such Deeds
Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
- Distinguished Flying Cross and 2 bars (DFC**) AWMM
“Flying Officer Calvert and Pilot Officer [John Acheson] Sears [RAAF] as pilot and navigator of aircraft respectively have flown together on many sorties. Whatever the weather or the opposition they have always endeavored to press home their attacks and, on numerous occasions, have obtained excellent photographs. Throughout their tour of duty, these officers have displayed a high standard of skill, together with great devotion to duty.” (1942) AWMM - Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) AWMM
- War Medal 1939-1945 AWMM
- New Zealand War Service Medal AWMM
- Flying Log Book: Green Endorsement - while with 1660 HCUPublic - Antonio - Researcher - 7 August 2025 - By Such Deeds, p.112: Colin M Hanson
- Distinguished Flying Cross and 2 bars (DFC**) AWMM
Training and Enlistment
- Military training
- —
- Branch Trade Proficiency
- PilotPublic - John - Researcher - 25 March 2021 - C. Hanson By Such Deeds
- Enlistment
- WW2 1939 AWMM
Age 26 AWMM
Farmer/Civilian AWMM - Enlisted 1 December 1940Public - John - Researcher - 25 March 2021 - C. Hanson By Such Deeds
- WW2 1939 AWMM
- Age on enlistment
- 27Public - John - Researcher - 25 March 2021 - C. Hanson By Such Deeds
- Occupation before enlistment
- —
Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW2 Royal New Zealand Air Force AWMM
- Departed Auckland 18 June 1941 on HMT Awatea; arrived Vancouver 3 July 1941. Trans-shipped for the UK, arriving on 30 July 1941.Public - Stoney - Researcher - 31 December 2024 - Martyn E W, For Your Tomorrow; Vol 3 p595
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
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- Days interned
- —
- Liberation date
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- POW liberation details
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- Liberation Repatriation
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- POW serial number
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Medical history
- Medical notes
- Died of Disease, Cause of Death AWMM
Prostate cancer AWMM
Last known rank
- Last rank
- WW2 1945 AWMM Squadron Leader AWMM
Royal Air Force, No. 630 Squadron AWMM - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Embarked as a Trainee Pilot, rank unknown
His headstone includes the text: Squadron Leader R O Calvert D F C & 2 Bars
Roy Oldfield Calvert: Biography by Paul Hickford (2026)
Roy Oldfield Calvert was an outstanding heavy bomber pilot. Between 1942 and 1944 he successfully completed two tours of duty with the Royal Air Force, a total of 59 sorties, displayed remarkable courage, skill and gallantry and was one of four New Zealanders to be awarded two bars to their DFCs.[i] He also received a Mention in Despatches.[ii]
Born in Cambridge, Waikato, Roy grew up in the local community where his father George operated a drapery in Queen Street and a women’s and men’s outfitters in Victoria Street.[iii] George was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England,[iv] and emigrated to New Zealand where he met and married Maud(e) Robinson in Napier, Hawkes Bay. Maud was the daughter of John Joseph Robinson (1854-1925), originally of Huttoft, Lincolnshire.[v]
Roy received his initial education in Cambridge and Hamilton before going forward to King’s College, Auckland.[vi] On completing his high schooling Roy worked on large sheep stations in the North Island where he learned the skills necessary to become a wool grader (or classer).[vii]
Throughout his early life Roy was interested in aeronautics and in his early 20s began learning to fly and prior to enlisting with the RNZAF on 1 December 1940[viii] he had gained his civil flying licence at Rukuhia, [ix] Hamilton, original home of the Waikato Aero Club.
Between 18 January and 13 September 1941 Roy undertook a chain of rigorous, complex and extensive training courses at various RNZAF and RAF air force bases: ground training at Levin, elementary flying training at Whenuapai, intermediate and advanced flying training at Ohakea followed by a further series of instructional training courses in England.[x] These included navigation, aerial bombing, defensive measures, meteorology, flying in formation, aerial photography and much more. Throughout Roy was also gaining a wealth of experience in operating a wide range of aircraft: Tiger Moths (DH82), Avro Ansons, Airspeed Oxfords, Vickers Wellingtons, Handley Page Halifaxes, Short Stirlings, Avro Manchesters and ultimately Avro Lancasters.[xi]
While still undergoing training in New Zealand, Roy had become engaged to May Fitches of Turakina, a small rural settlement just down the road from Ohakea air base.[xii] When Roy sailed for London in the ship Awatea on 18 June 1941 he was farewelled by his fiancée who waved him off with her scarf which he later received and carried with him on all his operational missions.[xiii]
Following his arrival in the UK Roy tiptoed into operational flying before joining 50 (RAF) Squadron at Skellingthorpe (affectionately known by aircrew as Skelly), Lincolnshire, on 14 April 1942. His first three sorties were in Avro Manchesters[xiv] and on his last mission managed to return to base on one engine.[xv] Following the squadrons conversion to Avro Lancasters in June 1942 Roy was to become the regular pilot of Avro Lancaster R5702, VN-S, which he named 'Taipo' (devil), fittingly illustrated with artwork depicting a curly-tailed devil chasing Hitler with a pitchfork.[xvi]
On 9 November 1942 while over the target area, “a near shrapnel burst [flak] sprayed the portside of the aircraft, killing the wireless operator, seriously wounding the navigator with Roy receiving a shrapnel wound to the upper arm.”[xvii] The aircraft was badly damaged and despite being wounded Roy managed to land his crippled Lancaster at RAF, Bradwell, where he successfully executed a ‘wheels up’ belly landing. Remarkably Taipo was repaired and returned to service, only to be shot down over Denmark later in the war.[xviii]
The enemy had devised a relatively successful system for operating their flak batteries where upwards of 250 88mm cannons were in single, defensive locations and each gun and its crew operated a four-cannon battery that fired in unison, creating a ‘kill zone’. Every three seconds the cannons kicked twenty-pound shells were sent skyward towards the Allies’ aircraft. As part of the firing strategy shells were fused to explode at slightly different altitudes to embrace the target.[xix]
Within 10 months of joining the squadron Roy had completed his first tour of duty – 33 sorties. A so called ‘rest period’ followed which had Roy training new pilots in the skills of operational sorties.[xx]
One of his active duties in January 1943 was the aerial laying of mines in enemy-controlled waterways.[xxi] Another sortie involved an attack on Milan, Italy. On that occasion Roy and his aircrew were in the air for approximately 10 hours and successfully completed their mission by skillfully avoiding significant damage to their aircraft from flak batteries and German fighters. A British newspaper reported under ‘Factory blown to bits’, “Flying Officer Calvert, DFC was struck by the number of Italian people who waved on the way out [at 800 feet] when they recognized his aircraft was British.”[xxii]
In January 1944 Roy resumed operational flying. He joined 630 (RAF) Squadron, stationed at East Kirkby. His second tour of duty ended on 24 August 1944 at which stage he was a Squadron Leader.[xxiii]
In the space of two years and four months flying, Roy had displayed remarkable flying skills, courage and gallantry. His outstanding achievements were recognised with three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the second being invested by King George VI at Buckingham Palace, London in December 1942.[xxiv]
The citation read:
“Flying Officer Calvert and Pilot Officer [John Acheson] Sears [RAAF][xxv] as pilot and navigator of aircraft respectively have flown together on many sorties. Whatever the weather or the opposition they have always endeavored to press home their attacks and, on numerous occasions, have obtained excellent photographs. Throughout their tour of duty, these officers have displayed a high standard of skill, together with great devotion to duty.”[xxvi]
On returning to New Zealand Roy and May were married at Turakina on 27 January 1945[xxvii] and in that same year Roy took up farming at Whitehall near Cambridge. At the age of 65 years Roy retired with May and moved to a residential property in Cambridge township.[xxviii] He died on 26 March 2002 and is buried in the Hautapu Cemetery. His wife May passed away three years later and is buried with her husband.
During the Second World War Roy’s brother, Douglas Frank Calvert (1918-2008), served with a New Zealand Army anti-aircraft battery in the Pacific before enlisting for service with RNZAF.[xxix]
Roy and his brother are both memorialized on the online Cenotaph of Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Sources cited
[i] Biography, Wings over Cambridge (WOC): www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz
[ii] Service personnel file of NZ404890, Roy Calvert, NZDF Personnel Archives and Medals, Trentham Camp (Wellington), (NZDF PAM).
[iii] Waikato Independent, 21 October 1913, p.5.
[iv] NZSG Pedigree Collection, PED290948.
[v] JJ Robinson, 1861 England Census, Lincolnshire, Huttoft.
[vi] Flying Cross for Cambridge man, Waikato Independent, 30 October 1942, p.2.
[vii] WOC.
[viii] NZDF PAM.
[ix] Waikato Independent, 40 October 1942, p.2.
[x] Richard Overy, The Bombing War, The Penguin Group, 2013, pp. 315/6.
[xi] WOC.
[xii] Engagements, Waikato Independent, p.6.
[xiii] Max Lambert, Night after Night, HarperCollins, Auckland, 2005, p.48.
[xiv] 1939-1945 Operations Record Books, 50 (RAF) Squadron (ORBs).
[xv] Max Lambert, p.162.
[xvi] WOC.
[xvii] NZDF PAM.
[xviii] Landing crippled Lancaster, PlaneHistoria, Facebook.
[xix] Adam Makos, A Higher Call, Atlantic Books, London, 2013, p.177.
[xx] WOC.
[xxi] ORBs.
[xxii] Unidentified newspaper, IBCC, University of Lincoln: ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk
[xxiii] WOC
[xxiv] Palace Investiture awards for New Zealanders, Otago Daily Times, 19 December 1942, p.4.
[xxv] JA Sears, RAAF, Military Service Records, National Archives of Australia.
[xxvi] WOC.
[xxvii] Marriages, Wanganui Chronicle, 7 February 1945, p.2.
[xxviii] 1978 NZ Electoral Roll, Cambridge.
[xxix] DF Calvert, Auckland War Memorial Museum, online Cenotaph site: www.aucklandmuseum.com AWMM - The story of why he was awarded his third DFC makes makes astonishing reading.
In a twin engined Manchester bomber [known for being underpowered] over Cologne, one engine was hit by flak, caught fire and had to be shut down. His skill in nursing the aircraft all the way back to England to a safe landing was exceptional and well deserving of the award.Public - Stoney - Researcher - 31 December 2024 - Hanson C M, By Such Deeds. P112
- Embarked as a Trainee Pilot, rank unknown
About death
- Death
- 26 Mar 2002 AWMM
Age 88 AWMM - Date of death
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- Age at death
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- Place of death
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- Cause of death
- Died of Disease AWMM
- Death notes
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- Cemetery
- Hautapu Cemetery, Cambridge, New Zealand AWMM Returned Services Section, 232 Block B AWMM
- Cemetery name
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- Grave reference
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- Obituary
- Death notice: New Zealand Herald, 26 March 2002 AWMM
- Memorial name
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- Memorial reference
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Memorial
- Memorial name
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Sources
- External links
- Wikidata Entity
http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7372640
Further Reference - Wings Over Cambridge https://cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Roy%20Calvert%201.htmPublic - Antonio - Researcher - 7 August 2025 - Internet research
- Wikidata Entity
- References
- The Weekly News
The Weekly News 1944 - Martyn, E. (1998-2008). For Your Tomorrow (Vols. 1-3). Christchurch, N.Z.: Volplane Press.
- The New Zealand Herald
Death notice: New Zealand Herald, 26 March 2002 - List of RNZAF [Royal New Zealand Air Force] Personnel - Embarkation Lists, November 1940 - July 1942. Archives New Zealand, Wellington (R17845762).
- Royal New Zealand Air Force. (1941–1945). Contact: National magazine of the R.N.Z.A.F.; the official organ of the Air Force Association (Inc.). Levin, New Zealand: Royal New Zealand Air Force.
V3,n3,p54 v6,n2,p62 v6,n6,p60 v7,n6,p63 - Biography kindly provided by Paul Hickford, New Zealanders who served with 50 Squadron RAF Biography Project (2026).
- RAF Bomber Command Association (NZ). (1993). Membership listing by squadron [Membership list]. Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira.
- The Weekly News
The development of the Online Cenotaph is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.
Online Cenotaph Data by Auckland War Memorial Museum is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.