Until World War II, New Zealand's air force concentrated on training, transport and maritime attack.

The New Zealand Permanent Air Force operated token numbers of Bristol Fighters and Gloster Grebes.

In response to the rising threat from Japan, the pilots of 488(NZ) fighter squadron arrived in Singapore in November 1941, where they received Brewster Buffalos.

[citation needed] While the Japanese army advanced down Peninsular Malaysia, these squadrons fought an unsuccessful defence.

[citation needed] In 1942, the threat of attack seemed real; the city of Darwin was bombed, New Guinea invaded and Japanese reconnaissance aircraft overflew Auckland and Wellington.

In April 1943, a year after forming, 14 Squadron moved to the rear base at Espiritu Santo to resume action against the Japanese.

[citation needed] For the remainder of the war, 14 Squadron rotated between forward and rear bases in the Pacific and 6-week periods of home leave in New Zealand.

On 11 June 1943, 14 Squadron moved to the forward base of Kukum Field on Guadalcanal—on its first contact with the enemy, the following day, six Japanese aircraft were destroyed.

The five RNZAF P-40 squadrons went on to claim 99 Japanese aircraft (subsequent, possibly partisan, research raised the figure to a round 100).

In November 1943, 14 Squadron moved for the first time to New Georgia, followed by Bougainville in February 1944, Green Island in December, and Emirau in July 1945.

14 and 16 Squadron Corsairs provided fighter cover for a possible rescue operation until the evening when, low on fuel they returned to Green Island.

The squadron flew armed patrols to protect armament and bomb dumps, to identify locations of hidden ammunition and check schoolyards for forbidden military parades.

[citation needed] The squadron stayed in Japan for a second year despite lacking a third of its ground staff due to the New Zealand Treasury Department refusing to fund recruiting advertisements.

[8] After the decision was made to terminate J-Force, 20 Corsairs were stacked together at one end of the airfield in October 1949 and set alight.

The air force considered the aircraft to be at the end of their useful life and couldn't justify the expense of returning them to New Zealand.

[9] On return from Japan, the squadron briefly operated de Havilland Mosquitoes, converting pilots to the fighter bomber role.

New Zealand's defence budget was pressured by involvement in East Timor, and a decade of failing to match inflationary costs.

The price of maintaining fast jets was increasingly criticised by Treasury and opposition political parties; prominent Labour politician Helen Clark was ideologically opposed to combat aircraft.

On the election of the Fifth Labour Government, the purchase of 28 F-16 Fighting Falcons was scrapped, and the existing A4 Skyhawks and Aermacchis retired.

The purchaser is a private US pilot training firm, which announced it will continue to operate them in their RNZAF squadron colours, sans national markings.