Correspondents who roam about Asia , knowing this blog's interest in ephemera and oddities, keep an eye out for us. Their latest finds include some first day covers from a tiny stall with a range of offerings including stamps and coins in Kuching, Sarawak. One , above, marks the 40th anniversary of the re-formation of the No.5 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in Fiji on July 10 1944 . Inside was a printed card with history of the squadron and details of the versatile Catalina aircraft which did a mighty job in the South West Pacific .
The squadron was formed in Fiji as a maritime reconnaissance unit in November 1941 , equipped with four Short Singapore biplane flying boats . Disbanded a year later, it was reformed on July 10 , 1944 , its aircraft the Catalina flying boat , known as the PBY by the Americans .The first four crews to arrive that date were commanded by Wing Commander J. W.H. Bray with Squadron Leader A.L. Cochran his Flight Commander .
The aircraft undertook anti-submarine patrols , escorted ferry flights, mercy missions and dropped food and supplies to isolated outposts. RNZAF squadrons rescued more than 150 downed aircrew.
Another of the finds is for the flight by chartered accountant John Fisher , pilot and adventurer , who flew his 1942 Tiger Moth from London to Sydney in 1996 , following the route of aviation pioneers Sir Ross Smith, Bert Hinkler, Francis Chichester and Charles Kingsford-Smith , to raise funds for CanTeen and the Marie Curie Cancer Care Fund . He carried 1000 specially numbered covers , this one of them .
