item details
Overview
This New Zealand Flying School badge (or brooch) was made by Reuben Watts (1869-1940), and is inscribed to William George Mitchell (1883-1918, New Zealand).
The New Zealand Flying School (1915-1924) is a significant part of New Zealand’s aviation history. It was established by pioneer aviators and brothers Leo and Vivian Walsh at Kohimarama, Auckland, and was New Zealand’s first training school for pilots (1). They used sea planes to train pilots, many of whom went on to serve with the Royal Flying Corps in Britain. The New Zealand Flying School was acquired by the government in 1924 after struggling to survive after the First World War.
William George Mitchell
William George Mitchell was a pupil of the New Zealand Flying School and qualified for the Royal Aero Club’s Aviator’s Certificate in August 1917 (this qualification was internationally recognised). He was one of 38 pupils who had qualified since the school’s establishment in 1915. Mitchell flew with the Royal Air Force during the First World War (1914-19). He was killed in a flying accident in Britain in 1918.
Reuben Watts
Reuben Watts (1869-1940, United Kingdom/New Zealand) was trained in the Arts and Crafts style in Birmingham, England. He arrived in New Zealand in 1899. In Wellington he worked for the commercial jewellers Littlejohn before he moved to Auckland in 1906 where he worked for A. Kohn. Watts went on to become an independent jeweller.
Design
Watts presumably created this badge as one of a series for the pilots graduating from the New Zealand Flying School. Mitchell was photographed upon graduation wearing the badge on his lapel.
Wings dominate much of aviation iconography, as expressed in detail in this badge. Here the wings are accompanied by silver ferns embracing ‘NZ’ at the heart of the badge.
(1) Leo Walsh and Vivian Walsh had been mainly responsible for the first successful aeroplane flights in New Zealand (in 1911). They designed and built New Zealand’s first successful seaplane, and pioneered aeroplane manufacturing here.