Air Commodore Ronald Burns Bannerman CBE DFC* was a flying ace during World War I, as well as serving as a high level administrator for his native New Zealand's air force during World War II.

[1] Both of his brothers, Hugh and Wilfred Bannerman played first-class cricket before World War I.

He was living at 35 Neidpath Road, Mornington in Dunedin when he enlisted for service in New Zealand's Armed Forces.

[2][3] After a voyage to England,[4] he joined the Royal Flying Corps on 29 March 1917[5] and undertook further training, amassing 53 hours solo flight time.

Upon his return to the front he added more victories to bring his total to 17, with his last triumph coming on 4 November 1918, a week before war's end.

[4] Indeed, there were only four other aces in the unit: Francis W. Gillet, Frederic Ives Lord, John McNeaney, and Edgar Taylor.

[12] Sources:[5][13] He continued flying and other duties after the armistice, including serving in the Army of Occupation in Belgium and as an instructor of fighter tactics and aerobatics in Britain.

By September 1919 he had returned home, where he begin a distinguished long career as a lawyer first in Dunedin and then at Gore where he entered into partnership with Edmund Robert Bowler (1866–1927), who had served as a Lieutenant-Colonel at Gallipoli.

He transferred to the Territorial Air Force, where he remained until he retired in June 1930 with the rank of flight lieutenant.

[19] In the 1960s he initiated negotiations with landowners and the council to establish and develop a reserve of seven hectares on the site of the original Gore Cemetery.