Sitting in his carefully curated home, surrounded by military emblems and aviation books, Jim Jennings smiles.<\/p>\n
His eyes light up as he describes his countless adventures over his 60-year career as a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.<\/p>\n
He is the only person to ever fire rounds at a foreign ship in New Zealand waters, hes travelled the world for his country, and hed do it all again in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n
The 79-year-old retired from the force last week, but his passion for the skies will never waver.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:* Royal New Zealand Navy celebrates 21st birthday of Te Taua Moana Marae in Auckland* New Plymouth teenager excited by military career prospects after joining Navy* Meet three Kiwi women who serve their country on sea, land and in the air<\/p>\n
Raised on a farm in Canterbury, Jennings knew he wanted a different life.<\/p>\n
Mechanically minded, he used to watch as the planes would take off from Christchurch Airport in Harewood.<\/p>\n
He was tempted by commercial flying, but why drive a bus when you can ride in a sports car.<\/p>\n
Supplied<\/p>\n
Jim Jennings sits in the nearest Skyhawk in a line-up at the hakea No. 75 Squadron tarmac.<\/p>\n
Nothing made his blood boil quite like the rush of speeding through the sky in a jet plane, he said.<\/p>\n
He joined the service in 1961 as an aircraft mechanic, but simply working on the fixed-wings wasnt enough.<\/p>\n
If you enjoy something, and youve put your heart and soul into it, you can get it.<\/p>\n
The itch to take the controls took hold of him, and six years later he took to the skies.<\/p>\n
You suddenly realise everything is up to you. Theres a bit of pressure on but once you get that milestone you're away.<\/p>\n
Its one of the best decisions I ever made.<\/p>\n
He spent his time piloting jets like the Harvard Mk.II, the DH104 Devon, and the de Havilland Vampire, but it was the McDonnell Douglas A4-K Skyhawk that stole his heart.<\/p>\n
Supplied<\/p>\n
A Navy ship chases the Kin Nan fishing ship through Taranaki waters.<\/p>\n
The Kin Nan, a Taiwanese squid boat, was lurking in New Zealand waters in 1976, which gave Jennings the story of a lifetime.<\/p>\n
New Zealand was surrounded by fishing boats, he said. Just about every Asian country, plus the Russians, were pillaging our fisheries around the countryside.<\/p>\n
There was very little policing going on because the Navy only had small patrol crafts that were designed for inshore work, not out on the high seas.<\/p>\n
Navy ships were battling to bring Kin Nan in and away from the 12-mile invisible line that separated legal and illegal fishing. But, with limited firepower, they were helpless to stop them, Jennings said.<\/p>\n
Two of these [Navy] patrol crafts had been chasing this Taiwanese fleet, which had been cruising the Taranaki coast, and had finally caught one of these boats in the 12 miles.<\/p>\n
The boat turned due west and sailed and the Navy were in hot pursuit. They fired a few shots off the bow and the Taiwanese thing did not stop.<\/p>\n
As Jennings returned from a practise bombing exercise in his Skyhawk, he was ordered to take flight again in search of the ship.<\/p>\n
They just think, Theyre nice people they're not ogling to shoot at us, they havent got any Navy thats going to do much about it, Jennings said.<\/p>\n
What we were doing was what we trained for all the time. The difference was we actually had something to stop.<\/p>\n
With armour piercing ammunition he headed for the vessel.<\/p>\n
It took something with a bit of firepower. I was the lucky guy in the right place.<\/p>\n
In just over one second he fired 53 rounds, about 300 yards ahead of the ship.<\/p>\n
They got the message loud and clear, he said.<\/p>\n
It put up an awful lot of spray. It was huge. That little finishing boat stopped absolutely dead in its tracks. Unbelievably quick.<\/p>\n
The crew was arrested and taken back to New Plymouth and charged.<\/p>\n
Supplied<\/p>\n
Jim Jennings stands in front of a Skyhawk at Base hakea in his final days of service.<\/p>\n
Jennings was proud of the role he played in changingthe course of fishery protection.<\/p>\n
You get an awful lot of satisfaction, not just personal, but youve done stuff for the country, you changed things.<\/p>\n
It sent a very clear message back to other nations who were doing the fishing and poaching around New Zealand that we were prepared to take action.<\/p>\n
His wife Faye and two sons have been at his side as he travelled the world following his passion.<\/p>\n
He was grateful for the sacrifice they made when he moved them to Malaysia for almost three years, and for being patient when he was deployed to Iran for six months.<\/p>\n
As he takes a step back from the ranks and back into civilian life, he was looking forward to taking some time to relax with Faye.<\/p>\n
But if the opportunity comes, hell be back in the cockpit.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Read this article:<\/p>\n
Top gun leaves the skies after six decades of service - Stuff.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sitting in his carefully curated home, surrounded by military emblems and aviation books, Jim Jennings smiles. His eyes light up as he describes his countless adventures over his 60-year career as a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. He is the only person to ever fire rounds at a foreign ship in New Zealand waters, hes travelled the world for his country, and hed do it all again in a heartbeat Continue reading