Arthur Umbers

Arthur Ernest Umbers (30 June 1919 – 14 February 1945) was a New Zealand flying ace of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) during the Second World War.

He was credited with the destruction of five German aircraft as well at least fifteen V-1 flying bombs.

Arthur Ernest Umbers, nicknamed 'Spike', was born on 30 June 1919 in Dunedin, New Zealand, the oldest son of Mr. R. A Umbers and his wife.

He went to Green Island School and then Otago Boys' High School.

After completing his schooling, he worked in Wellington for the New Zealand Government and later moved to Dunedin, where he was a clerk for the Tourist Bureau.

Born in Dunedin, Umbers joined the RNZAF in 1940.

Umbers formally joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force on 24 November 1940, enlisting as an airman pilot with the service number 404003.

After initial training at Levin, he proceeded to No. 1 Elementary Flying Training School at Taieri.

In February the following year, he embarked for Canada for further flight training.

This was undertaken at No. 6 Service Flying Training School near Dunnville.

He earned his flying badge in June and was promoted to sergeant.

He was subsequently commissioned as a pilot officer.

Proceeding onto the United Kingdom to serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF), Umbers was sent to No. 53 Operational Training Unit for familiarisation on the Supermarine Spitfire fighter.

He was then posted to No. 74 Squadron in late August.

At the time he joined the unit, it was based at Acklington, in the north of England, and was equipped with Spitfires.

It saw little action for the next several weeks, mostly carrying out protective convoy patrols.

After completing his flight training, the latter part of which was received in Canada, he was posted to the Royal Air Force's No. 74 Squadron in August 1941 and then onto No. 486 Squadron, with which he flew extensively on both night operations and offensive sorties for nearly 18 months.

In mid-March 1942, Umbers was transferred to the RAF's No. 486 (New Zealand) Squadron.

This had been formed earlier in the month as the second New Zealand squadron in Fighter Command.

It initially operated Hawker Hurricanes from Kirton-in-Lindsey in a night-fighting capacity.

After a period of training, the first operational flight was undertaken by Flight Lieutenant Harvey Sweetman and Umbers on 27 April.

The squadron was also involved with the experimental Turbinlite program, cooperating with No. 1451 Flight.

This used a Douglas A-20 Havoc equipped with a searchlight in its nose.

When operating interception missions at night, it would use its radar equipment to locate enemy aircraft, then illuminate them with the searchlight once spotted so that an accompanying Hurricane could endeavour to shoot it down.

Umbers was in charge of one of the Hurricane detachments involved in the program, which was ultimately unsuccessful.

The squadron's regular night-fighting operations were mostly uneventful.

After a number of weeks it was switched to day-fighters, converting to the Hawker Typhoon.

From October, and now operating from West Malling and then Tangmere, it was regularly flying missions intercepting incoming Luftwaffe Rhubarb missions.

On 22 December, while Umbers, now holding the rank of flying officer, and his wingman were on patrol, a Dornier Do 217 medium bomber was spotted 5 mi away.

He and his wingman attacked, setting the engines of the Do 217 on fire and it crashed into the sea.

Umbers was promoted to flight lieutenant in January 1943, which coincided with him taking over as one of No. 486 Squadron's flight commanders.

The squadron was switched to offensive operations in April 1943 and started flying to occupied Europe, escorting bombers.

On 9 April, Umbers was credited with a quarter share in two Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters that were destroyed over Étretat.

He shot down a Fw 190 on 24 June and was credited with another as probably destroyed on 15 July.

The squadron later started flying in a fighter-bomber role, attacking German shipping.

After a rest period, during which he was a test pilot for Hawker Siddeley and then the Gloster Aircraft Company, he returned to operational flying in April 1944 with No. 3 Squadron.

The squadron was equipped with the Hawker Tempest and when the Germans began launching V-1 flying bombs at England, it was tasked with intercepting them.

Umbers was the first New Zealander to destroy a V-1.

In December he returned to No. 486 Squadron as its commander.

He was killed in action when his aircraft was hit by flak while attacking barges on the Dortmund-Ems Canal.