Geoffrey Bryson Fisken

Born 17 Feb 1915 - Died 11 Jun 2011

Service number: WWII NZ401556 AWMM
Also known as: Geoff AWMM
Armed force / branch: Air Force AWMM
Last rank: WW2 Flying Officer/Military AWMM Royal New Zealand Air Force AWMM
War: World War II, 1939-1945 AWMM

Portrait of Flying Officer Geoffrey Bryson Fisken, Auckland Weekly News, 20 October 1943. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections AWNS-19431020-20-47. Image has no known copyright restrictions. No Known Copyright Restrictions

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Biographical information

Husband of Rhoda

Before the War he was a shepherd in the Wairarapa region.

Flying Officer Fisken was the highest scoring British Commonwealth fighter pilot in the South Pacific. His record against the Japanese was 11 confirmed aerial victories and 5 probable victories.

Several of his victories were against the famous Zero fighter. An aircraft of this type is on display in the Scars on the Heart Gallery, Level 2, Auckland War Memorial Museum

He flew Brewster Buffalo and Curtis P-40 Kittyhawk fighters.

The photograph in the Dominion Post shows Geoff Fisken alongside his P-40 fighter. The aircraft has a very fierce cat painted on the side together with the words "Wairarapa Wild Cat" and 11 miniature Japanese flags representing the number of enemy aircraft he had shot down

In the Pacific, the RNZAF fought under the overall command of the American military forces. When Geoff Fisken shot down three Japanese aircraft over Guadalcanal in the Solomon lslands on 4 July 1943 he was given some whisky by the Americans for this achievement on American Independence Day. " They gave me five cases of Canadian Club whisky, in little bottles, so I put them in tents for the boys"

Geoff Fisken is quoted in the Auckland War Memorial exhibition 'Kiwi Pilots in the Pacific' of 'Scars on the Heart', 'The Kittyhawk was an extremely rugged aeroplane..... your enemy could blast a lot of big holes in it but it would still get you home.'

The Royal New Zealand Air force (RNZAF) was established in 1937. On the outbreak of war New Zealand's role was to provide trained air crew to serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and through the Empire Air Training Scheme trained 880 pilots a year plus more personnel. Japan's entry into the war forced the RNZAF to convert from an organisation designed to provide trained air crew for the RAF to a truly independent air force with its focus on the Pacific. In March 1943 No 1 (Islands) Group RNZAF established itself of Espiritu Santo, administering all the New Zealand units in the area. There were two fighter squadrons, the Nos 14 and 15 Squadron, forward on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands flying Kittyhawks, and one squadron on Espiritu Santo. AWMM

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Geoffrey Bryson Fisken