In the group photograph of the trainees on the 5A Course, eight (including Valentine Allport) have been identified as having died in the war. From left to right and top to bottom they are:- Flight Sergeant John Bernard Kennedy, DOD 13/02/1942 (3rd from left, back row); Flight Sergeant Stuart Corliss Black, DOD 12/12/1941 (4th from left, back row); Flying Officer Edward Norman Jackson, DOD 15/12/1942 (middle, back row); Flight Sergeant Harry Malfroy Thompson, DOD 25/08/1942 (4th from right, back row); Flight Sergeant David Lloyd Carnegy Liddell, DOD 12/04/1942 (far left, middle row); Pilot Officer Ronald (Ranald) Peter Bell, DOD 12/08/1941 (3rd from left, middle row); Sergeant Vincent Herbert Griffiths, DOD 12/09/1941 (far left, front row); Squadron Leader Valentine Allport, DOD 26/03/1944 (2nd from left, front row).

Sid Scales, the artist who drew the caricatures, is 2nd from the right in the back row. He studied at London Central School of Art and Design and after the war was the staff cartoonist at the Otago Dailt Times until his retirement. During the war he was seconded to the RAF as a pilot. He saw service in Singapore and, after the fall of Singapore, in Java, were he was captured and was a Japanese prisoner of war there for three and a half years.

Unfortunately, due to nick names, we were unable to identify many of those caricatured. Our best guess is: John Kennedy = Jack Kennedy; Stuart Back = Stewy; Ronald Bell = Mrs Martin; Vincent Griffiths = Griff; and, Valentine Allport = Valentine. Sid Scales is in the bottom righthand corner. [NZWGT]