Edward Wells (RNZAF officer)

In his retirement, Wells began farming near Woodbridge, in Suffolk but in his later years moved with his wife to Spain. The couple had an orchard and subsequently Wells developed a keen interest in fruits and the diseases that affected them. He died in England on 4 November 2005, survived by two children. His wife had predeceased him by four years.

In the immediate postwar period, Wells remained in command of the Day Fighter Leaders' School. Then, in 1947, Wells resigned from the RNZAF in order to transfer to the RAF, having been granted a permanent commission. He held a series of postings with RAF Fighter Command, and by 1954 was commander of RAF Bawdsey, an air defence radar station in Suffolk. He later served on the Joint Planning Staff at the Ministry of Defence before retiring with the rank of group captain in June 1960.

By the time of his award of the DSO, Wells had been stood down from operational duty. He had flown on continuous active service for two years, including 133 missions to France. He was sent back to New Zealand on leave in September 1943. While there, he was asked to take on a role with the New Zealand military authorities. He declined, preferring to serve in Europe. After six months, he returned to England by way of the United States, where he visited aircraft factories. By April 1943, Wells was back in England. After attending a course at RAF Staff College, he resumed command of Kenley Wing. In mid-August, he married a Dutchwoman, Mary Dorothea née de Booy, in London. Three years earlier, she and her sister and parents had escaped to England from the Nazi-occupied Netherlands in a fishing boat.

In November 1943, Wells was posted to the headquarters of No. 11 Group as Wing Commander, Training. He remained in this role until March 1944, when he was assigned to the Tactical Air Force, flying in command of Tangmere Wing. Within days of his arrival, he destroyed a Messerschmitt Me 410 which he had caught on the ground. He then assumed command of the Detling Wing, composed of three Spitfire squadrons recently transferred from Sicily. A period in command of the West Malling Wing followed. In November 1944 he was appointed commander of the Day Fighter Leaders' School at the Central Fighter Establishment at Wittering. He remained in this role for the remainder of the Second World War.

Wells took command of No. 485 Squadron at the end of November, having been promoted to acting squadron leader. No. 485 Squadron was now based at Kenley and on 12 February 1942, it flew a mission to target the fighter screen put up by the Luftwaffe to cover the Channel Dash by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The squadron was split into three flights, with Wells leading one. The other two flights were dispatched to deal with German fighters spotted between the ships and the Belgian coast while Wells' flight flew the seaward side of the battleships. Not meeting any enemy fighters, with his flight he attacked one of the E-boats screening the battleships.

In the squadron's operations over France, it was now beginning to meet the new Focke Wulf Fw 190 fighter. Wells destroyed one on 16 April, followed by another on 24 April. A further Fw 190 was damaged the next day. The following month, he was promoted to acting wing commander and given command of the Kenley Wing. While flying with the wing on 24 May, he damaged a Bf 109 and he destroyed a Fw 190 the next month. In August 1942, Wells' award of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) was announced. The published citation read:

On 11 November, while on convoy patrol over the English Channel, Wells encountered aircraft of the Corpo Aereo Italiano, a formation of the Regia Aeronautica (the Italian Royal Air Force) that participated in the Battle of Britain. Some Fiat CR.42s dove on his Spitfire but he was able to evade them and made his own attack, claiming one as damaged. He was the first fighter pilot based in Britain to engage the Italians. The same day he damaged a Henschel Hs 126. At the end of the month, flying as wingman to Flying Officer John MacKenzie, he shot down a Bf 109 near Dymchurch. It was one of 10 shot down by pilots of No. 41 Squadron that day. On 22 January 1941, he damaged a Heinkel He 111.

In early March 1941, Wells was posted to No. 485 (NZ) Squadron, based at Driffield, in Yorkshire. This was a newly formed unit, with its flying personnel being New Zealanders. Wells was one of its more experienced pilots, having by this time accounted for a confirmed three enemy aircraft destroyed. After an initial training period, the squadron became operational from mid-April, flying convoy patrols and the occasional interception mission targeting nighttime raids carried out by German bombers. The next month Wells was promoted to flying officer. Then in late June, the squadron began carrying out offensive sweeps over northern France, by this time operating from Redhill as part of the Kenley Wing, alongside Nos. 452 and 602 squadrons.

The Second World War was well underway at the time of Wells' completion of flying training and, now a pilot officer, he was posted to England to join the Royal Air Force (RAF). Along with 22 other RNZAF pilots, including Robert Spurdle who, like Wells, would go on to lead a fighter squadron in the war, he sailed from New Zealand aboard the RMS Rangitata in June 1940. On his arrival was sent to No. 7 Operational Training Unit at Hawarden to covert to Supermarine Spitfires. His first operational posting was to No. 266 Squadron, based at Wittering in late August.

Born in Cambridge, Wells joined the RNZAF in 1939. After completing flight training he was sent to the United Kingdom to serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF). He flew Supermarine Spitfires with No. 41 Squadron during the later stages of the Battle of Britain and later flew with No. 485 (NZ) Squadron, becoming its commander in November 1941. For much of 1943 to 1944, he commanded fighter wings over England and France. By the end of the war he was commander of the Day Fighter Leaders' School. He transferred to the RAF in 1947, holding a series of senior posts until his retirement in 1960 at which time he took up farming. In his later years, he moved to Spain and took up fruit growing and research. He died in 2005 at the age of 89.

In October 1938, Wells applied for a short service commission in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). His application was accepted in April 1939 and six months later he reported for his initial training. He went onto to No. 2 Elementary Flight Training School in New Plymouth the following month and No. 2 Flight Training School at Woodbourne in January 1940. He gained his wings on 23 April.

Group Captain Edward Preston Wells DSO, DFC & Bar (26 July 1916 – 4 November 2005) 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 twelve enemy aircraft.

Edward Preston Wells was born in Cambridge in New Zealand on 26 July 1916, the son of Mervyn Wells, a farmer, and his wife. He was educated at Cambridge High School and after completing his education, took up farming. In early 1938, he changed vocations, moving to Auckland to work as a car salesman. Later in the year he began managing a Studebaker car yard in Hamilton. He was a noted marksman, winning the Auckland provincial championship in clay-bird shooting and earning the nickname 'Hawkeye'.