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Taranaki pilot Cliff Emeny was a young man not afraid to take risks. Hunger for adventure took the 19-year old to England, where he was stationed at the outbreak of World War II.
He joined the fray as a seaman gunner, and over a decade, had the unique distinction of serving in the merchant navy, the army and the air force.
Even more unique was Cliff receiving three airmen’s wings; as an air gunner, radar observer and finally pilot. Author Tom Woods wrote of this outstanding achievement in the Cliff Emeny biography, “The Three Wings”.
Cliff Emeny, NZ 40204 - born 11 January, 1920. 1937 joined Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles. 1939 worked his passage to England on the “Port Caroline”. 1940 posted to 264 Squadron, Duxford, England, on Defiant night fighters. Promoted to Sergeant. 1941 commissioned as Pilot Officer. 1942 awarded Pilot’s Wings. 1943 posted to No. 60 OTU, Grantham, England for conversion to Blenheim Bombers. Soon after, he completed a Mosquito Fighter-Bomber conversion, and was posted to Burma.
1944 Emeny led a flight of six Mosquitos in a dawn raid on Meiktila, an enemy-held airfield, and was shot down. He was captured by the Japanese and imprisoned in the infamous Rangoon prison, where he was subject to harsh, cruel treatment.
28 April 1945 allied prisoners took control of the prison after the Japanese pulled out of Rangoon. Emeny was in the first patrol that ventured out of prison. A day later he led a party north to take over Mingaladon Airfield.
May 1945 British forces arrive. Emeny flies to Calcutta, weighing just six stone 10 pounds.
Cliff Emeny and wife Joan, herself a Returned Service Woman, raised a family of six children, and spent their retirement years in Taranaki.
On Father’s Day 2000, Cliff took his final flight, in a Vampire Jet owned and piloted by son Brett, for a flight around the mountain. Cliff took the controls for much of the flight. It was a somewhat symbolic flight because the Vampire was de Havilland’s successor to the Mosquito Fighter-Bomber, so Cliff felt very much at home in the cockpit. A month later, he passed away.
Cliff Emeny’s legacy as an outstanding airman lives on with his sons. Brett flies helicopters for ‘Helicopter Services’, his own business based in Taranaki. As well as the Vampire Jet, he also owns a YAK 52, both of which are stationed at New Plymouth airport.
Brett’s brother, Craig Emeny owns and operates Air Chathams, with a fleet of Convair aircraft. Craig is based in the Chatham Islands.
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