T. M. Wilkes

He then served in World War I, initially as a Lieutenant with the Advance Party of the 2nd New Zealand Rifle Brigade in 1915, with whom he fought in Egypt as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force until 1916.

In 1929, he was posted to London as liaison officer with the Air Ministry, keeping the New Zealand Government informed of developments in the RAF and also negotiating the purchasing of aircraft.

[3] Wilkes was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935,[15] and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1937 Coronation Honours.

[16] In 1935, Wilkes had married Gladys, daughter of solicitor R. H. Rattray, of Invercargill, president of the Southland District Law Society, whose practice was later passed on to Fred Hall-Jones, OBE.

The subsequent achievements of the RNZAF and the fine position we are in today with regard to civil aviation are themselves monuments to his early efforts.”[4] His first cousin was Leslie R. H. Willis, engineer and archaeologist who excavated an Iron Age settlement at the hamlet of Dainton, at Ipplepen, Teignbridge, Devon.