Rukuhia's Runway

[Dave Homewood]

Does anyone here know the date or year that the runway was extended at Rukuhia (now Hamilton International Airport) which saw them fill a gully at the southern end of the runway?

I've been told by Dad and others that several Venturas were bulldozed into the gully to use as landfill, but I've never established when this extension took place.

Was it extended to take the Boeing 737? Or was it before then?

Was anyone here a witness to the loss of several aircraft into the ground?

[fletcherfu24]

Anyone got a metal detector ?,I got plenty of shovels.


Put me down for the mid fifties,as there was still a few old warbirds in the background of various topdressing photos taken at Rukuhia in that period.

[Dave Homewood]

I understand that some local group (maybe the Royal Aeronautical Society?) attempted to get permission for some sort of dig in the 1980's but were turned down. That was a second hand rumour I heard anyway, not sure of the details. The runway has been upgraded further since then.

[Martin Wienert]

...some bits and pieces...

'In 1988, one of the airport's runways was expanded, to accommodate the increasing number of international flights coming from Australia.'

'The main runway 36/18 was extended in length from 1740m to 1960m in 1998 to cater for scheduled services direct to Australia. A further runway extension was completed in 2005 to 2195m.'

Guess you're looking for an earlier runway extension...

[Bruce]

My guess is the runway was extended and sealed mid 1960s to cater for the F27 Friendship. All the existing grass runways were substantially re-aligned at that time as well, and the new terminal built on the Eastern side. At that time there would still have been a number of hulks on the field, as these lasted well into the 1970s.

[Dave Homewood]

Wasn't there a sealed runway put in in 1942 by the guys of No. 1 Aerodrome Construction Squadron. It was their first task after escaping Malaya and Singapore. I'm sure it was a sealed runway. I've seen photos of it being built.

And yes the 1998 extension I knew about, it's an earlier extension I refer to. Thanks anyway.

[corsair67]

Slightly off topic, but approx. how many flights a day come/go to/from Hamilton?

[Dave Homewood]

Loads. Lots of topdressers, lots of trainers from the schools there. Several airliners. Test flights from the factories. Even military pass throughs.

[corsair67]

So, it's not a quiet backwater then! ;D

I guess it also services quiet a large region for passenger services too, so that traffic alone would be fairly substantial?

[Dave Homewood]

Indeed. It's the only international airport between Auckland and Palmerston North, so basically lots of people travel from say Taupo north, all points east and west and even from Auckland for Australian flights. Why from Auckland? Because the parking is much cheaper for a start.

There is also a pretty active aeroclub too. Here in Leamington (Cambridge west) we get probably 20-30 aircraft fly over the house a day on a normal day, sometimes more. Lots of choppers too. And the Boeings and larger airliners don't generally come this way.

[Peter Lewis]

There was a 'Hamilton Aiport Opening' airshow in March 1966 (see the Corsair pics I took at that time at
rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Airshows&thread=1170326369&page=2)
I suggest that this was the Opening of the new runway and terminal, so the runway work would have been underway in 1965.
My first visit there was in 1963, and there still quite a number of P40 airframes visible in the grass at that time - I sat in one. I do not recollect any Venturas, but that does not necessarily mean that there were none there.
My scenario is that the scrappies were leasing the area that was required for the extensions, and would have been given notice to vacate. I would expect that they would have then completed their recovery work before leaving, as any airframes left behind would hav been literally money thrown away.

[Bruce]

So, it's not a quiet backwater then!

with the huge CTC training operation, The airfield is now very busy, they have recently added a second parallell east west runway (and tweaked the alignment by about 10%) The increased traffic is the main reason the control tower has recently been upgraded and procedures in the control zone tightened up.

[corsair67]

I'm surprised that Hamilton isn't trying to market itself as a potential second airport for Auckland by convincing the Govt and/or private investors to build a very fast train link between the two cities.

Heaven knows the Govt needs to invest in more infrastructure for regional areas of NZ.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Peter, I'm certain that must be the time it was done and your theory of the land being used by scrappers seems right, that is where the planes were stored from what I can make out.

[Peter Lewis]

By the early 1960s, the wrecks were positioned in that area of the airfield from outside where CTC Aviation is now back to what is now the threshold of runway 36.
From the family album, looking across from the old aero club hangar to the east towards where the airline terminal now sits. I'm sitting in P40N NZ3239. (These photographs are dated 10th March 1963 - the day before my birthday!):





Looking back the other way, the shed would be about where the Alpha Aviation factory now sits. The aircraft in the centre is P40N NZ3128:



View from the centre of the scrap area, looking to the south from what would now be the midpoint of runway 18. All these P40s would have been removed and the new runway formed over the next two years:

[Dave Homewood]

Superb photos!

I think I was told or read that they were removed onto Asplins property down the road now that I think about it. I'm not certain though.

[fletcherfu24]

Yeah amazing photos,considering they had been sitting there from around 1945,the scrapper must have been working exceedingly slowly or had lost interest in melting the old birds down nearly 20 years after they arrived there.
Slighty off topic anyone got a photo of all the Harvards piled up at Te Kuiti from the Airtruk building days.I remember as a kid in the late 60's there were still a good number sitting there.

[Dave Homewood]

Fletch, see this thread here for Bennetts photos

rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Airshows&thread=1172291350&page=1

[fletcherfu24]

Cheers,that was a lot of Harvards to make 2 Airtruks.

[avenger]

Aug 7, 2007 21:56:18 GMT 12 fletcherfu24 said:

Yeah amazing photos,considering they had been sitting there from around 1945,the scrapper must have been working exceedingly slowly or had lost interest in melting the old birds down nearly 20 years after they arrived there.
Slighty off topic anyone got a photo of all the Harvards piled up at Te Kuiti from the Airtruk building days.I remember as a kid in the late 60's there were still a good number sitting there.

I have a photograph from those Te Kuiti days, to post where?