Post #774953 by Club Nouméa on Tue, Apr 11, 2017 7:07 AM

A couple more photos of New Zealand pilots who took tikis into the air during World War II:

Cobber Kain, a New Zealander who was the RAF's first air ace of WWII, flew with No. 73 Squadron, shot down 17 Luftwaffe aircraft during the Battle of France, and died on 7 June 1940 due to a flying accident.

Here he is wearing a small tiki, just visible over his dog tags:

"LONDON. April 5, 1940 - With eighteen pieces of shrapnel in his left foot, and one in his right hand, Flying-Officer E. J. ("Cobber") Kain, the first ace airman of the war to have five German machines to his credit, wears around his neck, attached to his metal Identification disc, a Maori greenstone tiki, or Maori luck charm. He is not superstitious, but wears the tiki for sentimental reasons. He was born in New Zealand twenty-one years ago."
http://acesofww2.com/newzealand/aces/kain/

And a gem of a photo, from Chittagong, in what is now Bangladesh, taken in February 1943:

"RAF and RNZAF pilots discuss a sortie by the nose of a Hawker Hurricane Mark IIC of a Hurricane fighter Sqn operating with No. 224 Group, RAF."
https://www.facebook.com/WWIIBECFFESEA19371946/photos/a.1496655923945034.1073741835.1496587907285169/1712435772367047/?type=3&theater

Years before any American plane ever had a tiki emblazoned on it...