8 March: Japanese Warrant OfficerNobuo Fujita of the Imperial Navy conducts aerial reconnaissance of Wellington. His Yokosuka E14y reconnaissance plane had been catapulted into the air from the Japanese submarine I-25 which stored the plane in a sealed foredeck hangar. After a successful daylight tour the submarine and plane headed north to make an inspection of Auckland on March 13.
9 December: 37 of the 39 female patients in Ward 5 at Seacliff psychiatric hospital are killed in a night-time fire - the country's worst fire disaster at that time. [1]
