Wise Owl 94—Wisdom of Experience

By Rob Neil

Exercise Wise Owl, held at Napier from 14–23 June, was the 94^th such exercise since the RNZAF’s first Wise Owl in 1969. Originally known as “Red Owl”, the current Wise Owl is primarily designed to teach RNZAF pilot trainees the art of formation flying. In a “normal” year, there are typically two (occasionally three) Wise Owl exercises and these are held at various locations around New Zealand. Obviously, trainee pilots could learn formation flying while based at the RNZAF’s main base at Ohakea but there are very good reasons for holding the exercise elsewhere at different places.

Most importantly, the fact that operational flying could take place anywhere means that new pilots need to be able to adapt to different circumstances, surroundings and airspace. Wise Owl stretches new pilots beyond the “comfort zone” of their familiar Ohakea base. Living under canvas in a temporary base must become second nature to Air Force pilots who could be deployed anywhere around the world at a moment’s notice.

Obviously, it is not just pilots who need to be prepared to deploy anywhere. Every branch of the Air Force must have the flexibility to adapt to challenging circumstances in order to support operational flight crews in unfamiliar environments. Therefore, like all exercises undertaken by the RNZAF in peacetime, Wise Owl is far more than just a single-purpose exercise. In addition to its goal of providing formation flying training for new pilots, Wise Owl is a major “deployment” exercise that tests all of the RNZAF’s skills and preparation for remote deployment.

Normally, each Wise Owl is dedicated to a single training course. However, with the “compression” inherent in RNZAF training at present (the result of coordinating new aircraft programmes and aircraft upgrades), this year, the single Wise Owl comprised pilot trainees from two wings: eight trainees from Wings Course 09/2 and four from Wings Course 10/1.

By the time they take part in a Wise Owl, trainee pilots have typically completed around 40 hours flying time. This is significantly less than that required for a civil PPL, but the standard of training is higher for military pilots and the trainees (who are selected and continuously tested far more rigorously than civil pilot trainees) are relatively confident and competent in routine flying, and are ready to learn the additional skills necessary for safe formation flying.

Because Air Force pilots are officers first and pilots second, the leadership aspect of their role is an important ingredient throughout their training. In addition to conducting (extremely thorough) pre-flight planning for each sortie that they undertook, the trainees were also required to participate in briefing each sortie. The Group Captain in charge of the entire RNZAF Training Group also elected to sit in on these briefings occasionally. For the new pilots, having the “big boss” present to listen to them briefing their colleagues and instructors at such an early stage of their flying careers was simply another mental challenge to be mastered. In the civilian world, such “pressure” might be considered unacceptable (lest we upset little Johnny’s delicate sensibilities). However, it highlights a big difference between civilian and military thinking. In the civilian world, it is increasingly common for people to whine, moan and make excuses for why nothing is anyone’s fault. The “pressure” of having the “big boss” watching when it was not necessary would probably prompt all sorts of complaints to HR and provide excuses as to why one didn’t perform as well as hoped. In the Air Force, officers simply accept it as part of the job—and the contribution of such (relatively) minor mental stresses to building character cannot be overstated. These are pilots who might one day have to face bad people firing weapons at them—should they one day be swooping into Kandahar with Taliban rockets whizzing about their ears, they will look back and laugh at the nervousness they felt under the boss’s gaze as new boys at Wise Owl.

In any event, senior officers like the Group Captain and the experienced instructors teaching the new pilots are not interested in “picking fault” with trainees other than to increase trainees’ knowledge and skill. As such, despite the obvious “nerves” inherent in giving briefings to an audience, the new pilots accept advice, correction and criticism objectively and with open minds. It made no difference to the young officers to have this writer—a complete outsider—also listening in to their briefings and hearing their instructors correct them occasionally.

To this writer, the most impressive thing about RNZAF (and probably all good military) training is its ability to foster the talents of natural high achievers (all pilot trainees could be so described) while simultaneously training them to work together as part of a cohesive team. This apparent paradox—building strong teams by fostering and channelling the talents of strong individuals—is highly evident in the RNZAF.

The number of personnel necessary to make Wise Owl happen varies in number from around 90 up to around 130, depending on a variety of factors such as the number of pilot trainees and aircraft being operated. Wise Owl 94 involved 125 personnel. In addition to pilots and instructors, these included: logistics, avionics, administration, air security, computer/communication, motor transport and supply personnel, an Army chef, GSE (ground support equipment) mechanics, firefighters, medical specialists, health and safety specialists, plumbers, a chaplain and even a physcologist.

To an outsider, the task of assembling, packing and moving everything necessary to deploy a dozen pilots and their aircraft and all the above support personnel on operations appears mind-bogglingly big and complex. And of course it is! However, this is exactly the point of exercises like Wise Owl, which is representative of any typical off-base deployment for the RNZAF. The experience gained during the 93 previous exercises over the last 41 years—as well as the experience gained by the RNZAF in multiple full-scale deployments overseas—means that the process of coordinating such a task becomes progressively more “routine”. Each successive Wise Owl builds on the experience and reinforces the training necessary to keep it that way.

Virtually everything necessary to set up an RNZAF “base away from base” can be packed into four 20-foot shipping containers. In the case of New Zealand deployments, these can be moved by road, while the New Zealand Navy can take care of shipping for distant deployments (time permitting). In the event that a deployment must be undertaken urgently, the materiel necessary for a deployment can be palletised and flown aboard the RNZAF’s C-130s or Boeing 757s.

The man overseeing the logistical preparations for Wise Owl 94 was Warrant Officer Greg Backhouse—a veteran of seven previous Wise Owls. As in the past, and to ensure continuity (no single person can ever be allowed to become “irreplaceable” in military service), Greg was training another warrant officer in the planning and set-up of the Wise Owl deployment—another of the many training benefits of the exercise.

According to W/O Backhouse, the RNZAF is permanently ready to undertake small deployments within 24 hours. An operational deployment the size of Wise Owl, he says, could be ready to go within three days and could be entirely self-sufficient for up to a week.

All of the equipment and supplies for the Napier Wise Owl arrived at Napier Airport on the morning on Monday 14 June. Because an advance party had already marked the layout of the camp on the ground the previous Friday, by 2:30 on Monday afternoon, with everyone pitching in to assemble the camp as soon as possible, all of the tents were erected and some flying was already underway. It was impressive to see such a complicated process coordinated and executed so efficiently.

In addition to the new pilot trainees, a number of instructors from the Air Force’s Central Flying School (CFS) attended the camp and remained for the first week undergoing professional development training of their own. While new trainees practised formation flying, CFS instructors were learning the finer points of navigation instructional techniques.

The overall schedule for the two weeks at Napier planned for around 140 hours of instructional flying for the new pilots, between 30–50 hours for the CFS instructors, and another 20 to 25 hours during the open day and on other training and support sorties.

In typical Air Force manner, every aspect of operations was thoroughly briefed in order to make training objectives crystal clear and to ensure everything was done safely—this included not only flying operations but also routine duties around the base.

The detachment commander for Wise Owl 94 was Squadron Leader Anthony Budd, who had his hands full flying and instructing as well as having overall charge of the deployment. Joining Sqn Ldr Budd for the duration of the exercise was Group Captain Stephen Davies Howard, who is normally based at RNZAF Base Woodbourne and is the commander of the RNZAF’s Training Group.

Few officers of Davies Howard’s rank continue to fly regularly in the RNZAF, but in his role overseeing all RNZAF training, he likes to maintain a “hands-on” feel for what is going on and this includes flying with each of the new pilot trainees to assess their performance. The Air Force’s CT-4E Airtrainers are a far cry from the Tornado F.3s, F-4 Phantoms and Canberra PR.9s that Davies Howard flew during a lengthy RAF career, but he relishes any opportunity to fly and, like Sqn Ldr Budd, he was kept busy throughout the exercise.

In addition to its role as a multi-purpose training exercise, each Wise Owl provides a public relations opportunity for the Air Force in different communities around New Zealand, and so a public “open day” is incorporated into every Wise Owl. These open days are an excellent means of encouraging community involvement and, with every branch of the service represented, they allow the Air Force to show communities that their Air Force is far more than just planes and pilots. Defence Force recruiters are on hand to offer advice and provide answers to anyone interested in the diverse range of military careers—many of which people would be unaware of were it not for events like this.

As if the friendly buzz of yellow CT-4s overflying Napier’s environs all week weren’t sufficient enticement to draw curious crowds (“What is all the activity over our city all about?”), this year’s open day at Napier included appearances by the familiar Iroquois and long-serving Sioux, the RNZAF Historic Flight’s Harvard and Brendon Deere’s immaculate Spitfire. The fact that more than 7,000 people showed up gives an indication of the widespread appeal of these open days.

On a fine sunny Napier Saturday, one thing that visitors to the open day might not have given much thought to was the reality faced by their Air Force hosts of living in tents for two weeks in the middle of winter. With the shortest day of the year falling during this Wise Owl, there were plenty of cold, wet and windy nights to add to the challenge of living off base. As the dark sky in some of these images highlights, Air Force service is not all “beer and skittles and home in time for tea and cake”.

Because the Air Force’s CT-4E Airtrainers are leased civil aircraft, an additional necessary part of the exercise was a “detachment” of civilian engineers from Aeromotive Overhaul—the company which has the contract to maintain the RNZAF’s Airtrainer fleet. The Aeromotive engineers shared some of the rigours and hardships of two weeks of mid-winter outdoor work, but were spared the “joy” of tent-living and had the good sense to stay in a nearby motel.

Wise Owl was supposed to run for a day longer than it did (it was scheduled to finish on 24 June). However, with severe weather forecast to begin on the last day (forecast to be bad enough to have kept the entire deployment trapped in Napier until at least Monday 28^th), the decision was made to pack up a day early. The change in plans highlighted the flexibility in the system that allowed the logistical support to accommodate the amended schedule.

The latest Wise Owl was not “just another training exercise”. The successful conclusion of every successive Wise Owl inevitably adds to the combined organisational wisdom of the RNZAF as a whole—as is undoubtedly part of its purpose.

Pacific Wings would like to thank Group Captain Davies Howard, Squadron Leader Anthony Budd, Warrant Officer Greg Backhouse, Chaplains Paul Allen-Baines and Murray Thompson, and the entire RNZAF Wise Owl team for their hospitality and assistance in preparing this article