Norman Reginald DAVENPORT
Known as Norm

Service Number:
Royal Naval Air Service Trade: Pilot
Date of Enlistment: 21st of August 1915
Date of Demob: 25th of May 1916
Rank Achieved: Flight Lieutenant
Flying Hours:
Operational Sorties:

Date of Birth: 23rd of May 1893, at Auckland, New Zealand
Personal Details: Norm was the son of Mr. Samuel Howarth Davenport and Mrs Mary Davenport of Epsom, Auckland. He studied at Auckland Grammar School and Kings College, also in Auckland. He was a member of the Kings College First XI in 1908 and 1909.

Following school Norm studied law at Auckland University College (AUC) during 1912 and 1913, and then worked for the legal firm of Messrs. Nicholson and Gribbin before returning to AUC to continue studies in early 1915. He then left for England.

After his return to New Zealand Norm was ballotted a 389 acre farm within the ex-serviceman's land at the Te Miro Soldiers Settlement, Fencourt, Cambridge in March 1918, and he moved there from Epsom.

Norm met and married Miss Kathleen Maude Brown on the 15th of October 1919. her parents were the publicans of the Central Hotel in Duke Street, Cambridge.

He was a member of the Cambridge Rifle Club during and after WWI. On the 12th of August 1938 he applied for a licence as areal estate agent and involved with the insurance industry in postwar years. In February 1928 Norm was appointed Manager of the Auckland Branch of The Mercantile and General Insurance Co. Ltd. He was also a Justice of the Peace.

Service Details: Norm served with the New Zealand Territorial Army as a 1st Lieutenant in the New Zealand Forces Motor Reserve, prior to gaining leave of absence from that service and departing New Zealand aboard the Makura in July 1915 to join the Royal Navy Air Service,. Norm travelled to Britian at his own expense along with his old school friend Eric Calder, who also intended becoming a pilot.

Norm was commissioned in the Royal Navy on the 21st of August 1915 with the rank of Flight Sub-Lieutenant. He and Eric Calder began their Navy training at the Naval School of Aviation in Portsmouth, undergoing daily lectures on HMS Fishguard and in the engineering workshop learning all about the manufacyture and maintenance of combustion engines and aeroplanes. They also learned about gunnery.

Undergoing flying training at the Grahame-White School at Royal Navy Air Station Hendon, Norm gained his flying licence on the 25th of November 1915. It was numbered 2096. On gaining his licence Norm was transferred to the Naval Flying School at Eastchurch for advanced flying training.

By the 27th of February 1916 Norm was based at RNAS Redcar, on the eat coast of North Yorkshire, because on that day he was flying an acceptance flight for a BE2c (serial number 1139) that had just been transferred to that station when he had a forced landing at nearby Lackenby. The aircraft was damaged but was later repaired and returned to service. Norm was unhurt apparently.

He had been posted to serve with a RNAS squadron based at a secret base on the East Coast of England, so this must have been Redcar. The squadron was flying Short 184 floatplanes from a seaplane carrier vessel patrolling the North Sea, and also land-based scouts - so probably the BE2c like he had the mishap in. Their role was hunting for the German Zeppelin bombers that were terrorising English towns.

He suffered a serious accident in May 1916 when his engine failed shortly after take off and his aeroplane dived around 150 to 200 feet into the North Sea. Rescued from the water, he was suffering from severe shock, bruising and exposure. Norm was invalided out of the Navy as a result of this accident.

When he'd recovered from the crash he was then employed by the Aeronautical Inspection Department of the Ministry of Munitions in London and appointed to the role of Examiner of Aeroplane Engineers. Norman remained in that position till September 1917, when he returned to New Zealand onboard the troopship Maunganui, arriving in this country on the 12th of November 1917.

On his return to New Zealand Norm joined the Reserve of Officers for the New Zealand Flying Corps, as stated by him in a letter dated 9th of September 1920.

Date of Death: 18th of April 1979, in Auckland
Buried: Auckland

Connection with Cambridge: Norm Davenport was ballotted a 389 acre farm within the ex-serviceman's land at the Te Miro Soldiers Settlement, Fencourt, Cambridge in March 1918, and he moved there from Epsom. he was still living there in the early 1920's, but at some unknown date he returned to Auckland to live/

Sources: The Waikato Independent newspaper on Papers Past, and Archway on the Archives New Zealand website. Also the book "A World War 1 Adventure: The Life and Times of RNAS Bomber Pilot" by Donald E. Harkness. Plus this page. And information from Errol Martyn

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