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Post by contourcreative on Sept 10, 2008 6:32:49 GMT 12
Hi all
For some time I have been trying to get hold of some pictures of the Mechanics Bay Flying Boat Terminal Building in the early 1950's. Our intention is, along with everything else, to produce a model kit of building and flying boats. It was only operational briefly before land-based aviation became the norm.
Regards
Terry
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 10, 2008 14:37:06 GMT 12
Have you tried Motat? Many of Motat's buildings actually came from Mechanics Bay so they may actually have the terminal there?
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Post by contourcreative on Sept 10, 2008 16:19:54 GMT 12
Thanks Dave
Yes and Auckland Museum, Auckland Harbor Board, NZ Herald Files, National Archives, Alexander Turnbull Library, Air NZ Archives (some years back). I have an old Whites Aviation aerial from 1950 which I will post from another computer on this. (I suppose I could talk to Air Logistics but..$$$..as you know). The old Ministry of Works archives I understand were 'thinned' and I would imagine any drawings there might have been destroyed.
Interesting that NZ books on Flying Boats etc have no pics of this building, which is as much testimony to the structure's short life as the predilection photographers have for planes, planes and planes! :-) This is an international phenomenon and not the preserve of just us kiwis...
Terry:-)
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Post by contourcreative on Sept 10, 2008 16:58:59 GMT 12
Here's a picture of this substantial two story building under construction...it seems to have vanished into history...
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Post by shorty on Sept 10, 2008 17:12:07 GMT 12
The Queen flew in a Solent during the 53/54 Royal Tour, perhaps a search through subjects pertaining to this tour may show the terminal in the background of some of the photos?
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Post by contourcreative on Sept 15, 2008 17:33:27 GMT 12
Hmmm...I don't know. My experience with pictures of Royalty is not great, but it is axiomatic that the Royals are the focus, quite literally. Did she arrive by Flying Boat Shorty? I just don't know. My question would be why no reference to this building. It obviously cost a few pounds back then. Maurice McGreal makes no mention of it whatsoever...
I guess the question is.. Was this facility NZ's first International Airport? Whenuapai operated from 1948 to 1965 of course, and the focus there was land based aviation, but Flying Boats had been operating from Mechanics Bay way before then..
I still can't reconcile the lack of images and information with the apparent reality...
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 15, 2008 21:15:01 GMT 12
Wouldn't Wigram be our first international airport, with Smithy in 1928? Or do you mean regular scheduled services airport? It looks like a substantial building, I wonder if it burned down or other such unexpected faterather than was removed on purpose? Or did it have to go simply because flying boats stopped arriving and the waterfront was re-developed?
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Post by shorty on Sept 15, 2008 21:38:58 GMT 12
"Wings Over New Zealand"" A Social History of New Zealand Aviation" by Mathew Wright, Whitcoulls 2002 ISBN I-877327-09-3 has a photo of the Queen walking up the Brabie from ZK-AML Awatere. She arrived on the ship "Gothic" in Auckland and departed on the same ship from Bluff. I don't know where she flew to in the Solent.
Dave, Smithies arrival wouldn't make Wigram an International airport as no Customs facilities or passenger handling provision etc were there, the same as the Irish bog that Alcock and Brown landed in (or the swamp at Harihari that Guy Menzies landed in) wouldn't be classed as "airports"
I would think that with the cessation of flying boat services the building would have been used for other purposes until the area was redeveloped for containers. Somewhere I think I have a couple of photos of the harbour taken from the Parnell Rose Gardens in the early 60s,, if I can find them I'll see what,if anything, they show.
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Post by shorty on Sept 17, 2008 8:34:43 GMT 12
Have checked the photos I took but they go no further that the breakwater. Also checked a long clip I have of Sunderland NZ 4113 flying over downtown Auckland and the Gulf but no luck there either. I did find this on the web. Across the railway yards to Mechanics Bay. The building on the left was the Tasman Empire Airways flying boat passenger terminal. The last flight by a flying boat was from Fiji to Mechanics Bay on September 15th, 1960. This aircraft is now at the MOTAT Museum in Auckland. Taken 3rd September, 1960. I used to work in that area from 1962 onwards and am not ssure that the caption is 100% accurate. I think the large building was TEAL admin and engineering headquarters. It also looks quite different from the photo of the terminal under construction, sois it the terminal? I think not.
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Post by shorty on Sept 17, 2008 8:53:41 GMT 12
What about this bit of film, it may have something on it. Unfortunately the rest of the web page was in Maori so I have no idea what it said [HILLARY & LOWE RETURN TO NEW ZEALAND AFTER CONQUERING EVEREST]
Silent; Black & White; 001:37 minutes 1953 Edmund Hillary and George Lowe on board a TEAL Flying Boat arrive at an Auckland wharf for a public welcome. Members of the public wait on the wharf; TEAL Flying Boat taxiing to wharf and dockway. NZ flag over gateway; public in foreground; people disembark. Edmund Hillary and Lowe walk along gangway and are met by family and friends. Edmund Hillary picks up his son Peter and kisses his wife; after mingling with the crowd they ascend the dais for official speeches, beginning with the Mayor. Edmund Hillary and George Lowe both speak; brief shot of press photographers.Various shots of dignitaries on dais; Edmund Hillary and George Lowe leave the terminal amidst the well-wishes of the crowds gathered; their vehicle leaves the scene under police escort. Video excerpt (1.8 MB; 001:22) shows Hillary and Lowe walking along gangway, meeting family and friends; after mingling with the crowd they ascend the dais for official speeches, Hillary and Lowe both speak; brief shot of press photographers. I hangaia e: A.H. Reynolds; Filmed by AH REYNOLDS Kaupapa e Keywords: MOUNTAINEERING; CEREMONIES; CROWDS
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Post by contourcreative on Sept 17, 2008 15:43:07 GMT 12
This is good stuff...I like this thickening plot...couldn't connect to your film though. The building has a Croydon quality to it (ie. Grey and square - no art deco here :-( If I wasn't up to my armpits in designing Tiger Moth liveries I'd down to Auckland and harass some archivists.
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Post by contourcreative on Sept 17, 2008 15:58:22 GMT 12
Checked the film, but think it is some other building as it appears single story (and ugly).
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Post by shorty on Sept 17, 2008 16:52:00 GMT 12
OK, next line is to try something along the lines of scenic shots of Auckland harbour or Auckland fom the air . What about Fred Ladds book, his early times might be around the right time. It seems like we are probably looking for a time frame of 1954 to about 1960?
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Post by contourcreative on Sept 17, 2008 17:11:56 GMT 12
I think you are right. The construction pic I loaded was taken from 'New Zealand-Under the Southern Cross' - in 1954..The same year the DC 6's took flight. The building must have been a white (Grey) elephant...
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 17, 2008 18:37:37 GMT 12
There's no sign of the building in Fred Ladd's 'A Shower of Spray and We're Away' book.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 17, 2008 18:39:44 GMT 12
However there is a good aerial shot of Mechanics Bay opposite page135 in Noel Holmes' book 'To Fly A Desk: Sir Geoffrey Roberts - Father of Air New Zealand' that shows the terminal building from the front.
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Post by shorty on Sept 17, 2008 18:41:36 GMT 12
I was just about to post that info about Shower of Spray, Dave, I've got a huge collection of Wings but I'm not keen on trawling through them all so that is not being done in the near future.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 17, 2008 18:49:06 GMT 12
I don't have a scanner but here is a digital photo I just took of the plate photo in the book mentioned above for your reference:
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Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 17, 2008 18:50:42 GMT 12
It is interesting to see all the barrack type buildings and other buildings there, no doubt most will be from when it was an RNZAF Station.
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Post by shorty on Sept 17, 2008 19:23:55 GMT 12
None of those buildings seem to tie in with the shot of it under construction. It was on the city side of the second Brabie which doesn't show in that photo.
If it helps with dating photos the hangar was built 1949/1950.
Another possibilitiy is those picture books about Auckland that I think were compiled with Weekly News photos. I remember buying the books for presents for my Mum, each one covers one decade, and may have been called Those Were the Days? The one covering the 1950 would be the one to look at.
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