Group of airmen on board S.S. Arawa, c. Oct 1917

Black and white photograph, printed onto a postcard (unused). Informal group of airmen relaxing on the deck of a ship, identified as S.S. Arawa, 1917, by the note written in upper left corner. The men are dressed in civilian clothing and three are wearing pilot badges, two of which appear to be Canterbury (NZ) Aviation Company (CAC) badges, the third a New Zealand Flying School badge.

Edwyn Arnold Fraser Wilding (CAC graduate no. 1) second from right at back, Ross Brodie (CAC graduate no. 9) directly in front of him and possibly Herbert Nelson Hawker (CAC graduate no. 2) to his right (wearing pilot badge). Ernest Taniwha Sutherland (CAC graduate no. 8 and the first M_ori graduate) fourth from left in front (with hat and camera). J. E. Stevens believed to be at extreme left (CAC graduate no. 3) and Clarence James McFadden (CAC graduate no. 4) second from right in front (in front of Brodie). The airmen were on their way from New Zealand to England to begin training with the Royal Flying Corps. From the Edwyn Wilding collection.