Kiwifruit industry in New Zealand and Growers, who were calling the berries "melonettes", because the local name for the fruit, "Chinese gooseberry", had political connotations due to the Cold War, and to further distinguish it from real gooseberries, which are prone to a fungus called anthracnose. An American importer, Norman Sondag of San Francisco, complained that "melonettes" was as bad as "Chinese gooseberry" because melons and berries were both subject to high import tariffs, and instead asked for a short Maori name that quickly connoted New Zealand. In June 1959, during a meeting of Turners and Growers management in Auckland, Jack Turner suggested the name
The New Zealand Squadron The New Zealand Squadron The New Zealand Squadron was the name given by the Royal Air Force to the men of the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the United Kingdom to train on the 30 Vickers Wellington Mk1C bombers the New Zealand Government ordered in 1938 to introduce the latest in aviation military technology to the Royal New Zealand Air Force. RNZAF aircrew were sent to the UK and others already there were posted to the group training on the new aircraft based at RAF Marham in Norfolk commencing on 1 June 1939, with Sqn Ldr M. W. Buckley,