Bert Sam Wipiti, DFM (16 January 1922 – 3 October 1943) was a New Zealand fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War.

[1][2] A refrigeration serviceman at the time of his enlistment, Wipiti joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in January 1941.

[3] He completed flight training at Ohakea, gained his flying badge in late May, and then proceeded to Malaya as a sergeant pilot in July.

Shortly before the fall of Singapore, Wipiti was evacuated to Java, surviving the sinking of his original transport ship.

[16] In late March 1942 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) in recognition of his service in Malaya and Singapore, having shot down five Japanese aircraft.

485 Squadron, a RNZAF unit,[19] which at the time of his arrival, was stationed at Biggin Hill, in the English county of Kent, and operating Supermarine Spitfire fighters on escort missions, accompanying bombers carrying out daylight raids into Continental Europe.

[20] Wipiti shared in the destruction of a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter on 16 September 1943, while covering a raid by Martin Marauder bombers on an airfield in France.

[24] After the war, his parents were presented with their son's DFM by the Governor-General of New Zealand, Sir Cyril Newall, in a ceremony at Government House in Wellington.