Pohe Street in the suburb of Wigram, Christchurch

Pohe Street – Named after Porokoru Patapu “Johnny” Pohe (1914-1944). Flying Officer Pohe, also known as “lucky Johnny”, was the first Māori bomber pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Named to continue the aviation theme used for street names in the Wigram Skies subdivision. It was at first to be named Johnny Pohe Street. Named in 2014.A small amount of information from the library website. Lots of information on Papers Past and online for this young man. He was born 10th December 1914 and died 30th March 1944 and he was a farm hand. His father was Whatarangi Ropoama Pohe. Article in Oct 1941 mentioned Porokoru as being the first Maori pilot and the article mentioned his maiden raid over Germany. He had arrived in England in May that year with a group of men trained in NZ to fly heavy bombers.Article in November 1943 mentioned him as formerly missing but now confirmed as a prisoner of war, He had been promoted to a flying officer earlier in the the year. Next article I found dated 20th May 1944 said that he had been shot in Germany. Further information said that he was shot down whilst on a raid over Hanover, Germany and is a POW in Stalag Luf III Sagan and Belaria. He was shot by the Gestapo after escaping from Stalag Luft III POW Camp. Buried Pozan Old Garrison Cemetery Poland.There is also a memorial to him at the Pollington Airfield Memorial Gardens in Yorkshire.The houses here are mostly built in 2017 but there are at least two still in the process of being built. A couple of the houses were huge .The story of the man behind the street name was interesting and very sad.