New Zealand Flying School

[4] The Walsh brothers wanted to start a flying school when WW1 broke out to train New Zealand pilots for service.

It leased buildings from the Melanesian Mission including a kitchen, which it turned into a dining room, and operated here until 1924 when the school was sold to the New Zealand Government.

In the same year the school gained Imperial Recognition, which brought official involvement of the New Zealand Defence Department.

The School purchased two Boeing float planes with 125 horse power Hall Scott Engines, which were originally built for the Russian Government.

The New Zealand Government donated six Avro 504 K's (Gnome engines), three sets of sea plane floats, and two D.H.9s after the Armistice.

[2] On 16 December 1919 the School ran the first official Air Mail in New Zealand from Auckland to Dargaville, with George Bolt as pilot and Leo Walsh as passenger.

[2] The School also made the first flight from Auckland to Wellington in October 1921, again with George Bolt piloting and Leo Walsh as passenger.

Walsh Brothers type D flying boat
Accommodation tents and the Melanesian Mission building (right) at the New Zealand Flying School, Kohimarama, 1916.
New Zealand Flying School students sitting in the sun outside their accommodation tents in Kohimarama, 1916
Informal group of New Zealand Flying School students with a Curtiss flying boat. Kohimarama
The New Zealand Flying School Supermarine flying boat arrives in Wellington after Auckland to Wellington flight, October 4, 1921