No. 1 Aircraft Storage Unit

[Dave Homewood]

In this National Library photo is a small hangar at Rukuhia Aerodrome, now Hamilton Airport. The hangar seems to be being used by civilians at this time looking at the ZK- registered aircraft but when you zoom in you'll see it has the sign "No. 1 Aircraft Storage Unit" above the door. I assume this is a leftover from the days between 1944 and 1949 when the RNZAF was storing its surplus bombers and fighters at Rukuhia. Whereabouts on the airfield was this hangar? And is it still there now?

ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE12304301&dps_custom_att_1=emu

[delticman]

Nov 30, 2017 8:54:55 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

In this National Library photo is a small hangar at Rukuhia Aerodrome, now Hamilton Airport. The hangar seems to be being used by civilians at this time looking at the ZK- registered aircraft but when you zoom in you'll see it has the sign "No. 1 Aircraft Storage Unit" above the door. I assume this is a leftover from the days between 1944 and 1949 when the RNZAF was storing its surplus bombers and fighters at Rukuhia. Whereabouts on the airfield was this hangar? And is it still there now?

ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE12304301&dps_custom_att_1=emu

That hangar is still there. Go past the aero club and down the little track. the roadways are different but near the top of the page is a house and that is on State Highway three.

Possibly the sign was swiped from somewhere else. In the 1960's, it was the Aero Club hangar.

[davidd]

What would the small structure above the front door in centre of roof be all about then? I doubt that it is a pigeon loft!
David D

[Dave Homewood]

Maybe it houses a siren or hooter?

[shorty]

Looking at the access way over the roof and the windows in the structure my guess would be a timekeepers position

[Bruce]

It is the hangar currently used by Central Aero Engineering, where I assembled CKE for test flying - although the road alignment now bears little resemblance to what is there now. the little structure above the door housed an air raid siren. The mountings were discovered when the hangar was reclad a few years ago. Its a very historic building, and still actively used today. I was in there only a couple of weeks ago! The concrete pad to the left of the picture is the floor of an odd wartime"Nose hangar", sort of half a hangar for servicing aircraft engines. It is still there beside the modern taxiway and used for engine runups.

[grgrimmer]

Note the old wicka pram - common in those days - beside the caravan. My Dad and Mum started their married life living in a caravan (around 1950) just like this couple(?) obviously are, in fact my two older brothers were born and living in it too during that time, as we have photos showing this.
The young people of today are so spoilt and don't know it!

[johnnyfalcon]

"LUXURY! When I was a lad..."

[Dave Homewood]

So we have established where the hangar is situated, and so I am interested to find that the RNZAF was using facilities on that side of the airfield too. The aircraft were all stored on the other side, where the terminal area is now, and the No. 1 Repair Depot facility is were Pacific Aerospace is now. I never realised there was anything actually used by the Air Force on the western side of the airfield near the dairy factory. Interesting.

[oj]

Yes, when it was the WAC hangar in the 1960's their LAME was Keith Wylie and later Bob Forster.
Then in the late 1970's Brian Hare and Dave Mundell used the building as their first premises when they started up Aeromotive Overhauls.

[rone]

I clearly recall P40's and Corsairs parked at the western end by the old factory at the end of WW11. In fact right up by the fence of the main road I watched, during an open day, a firefighing demo. of a P40 being doused with foam. Later all the a/c were parked from that end down to the east end. They were all eventually moved to the eastern end.