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Post by The Red Baron on Jul 31, 2010 21:13:02 GMT 12
In accounts of flying around Tauranga in the 1950's and early '60's they often refer to an airstrip at Tauriko,used by the aero club and early charter airlines.Obviously theres been a lot of development since those days but does any one know where it was located?.Was it farm topdressing strip or something more salubrious?.
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Post by Bruce on Jul 31, 2010 21:36:32 GMT 12
I've heard about this too from my homebuilder contacts. Aparently it was somewhere on Belk Rd, just west of Tauriko. The Tauranga Gliding club based there for a while and I understand it was a fairly big strip. Nothing is visible on Google Earth so I guess it is now under orchards and shelter belts.
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Post by The Red Baron on Jul 31, 2010 21:54:05 GMT 12
Ah.I wondered if it was the old airstrip up Belk Road,Tauranga Gliding club owned it until late '70's ish,then it was sold for Kiwifruit and they shifted back to Tauranga airport.
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Post by thomarse on Aug 1, 2010 11:11:46 GMT 12
I don't think Belk Road was ever used for anything other than gliding was it?
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Post by Fletcher400 on Aug 1, 2010 14:10:55 GMT 12
Yes there was one somewhere around there, When I lived in Greerton our house overlooked the valley in the direction of Tauriko, Definitely was a topdressing strip/may have been the same one or ex one the aero club used, used to spend hours watching Derek Williams topdressing in the locality. This was back in the 80s... I think it was off moffat road on the gully side near the turn off.
But there was the one on belk road too, so either the old belk road one or the one near moffat road (possible old topdressing strip which are both now defunct)
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Post by The Red Baron on Aug 1, 2010 16:08:54 GMT 12
Yes now I think back too Belk Rd I can remember going to the 'opening' of the Glider strip,early '70s,dont know wether it was an old topdressing strip they upgraded or whether it was just a flat block of land they made into a strip.
I just got the impression from reading that the Tauriko strip was somewhere close to the village.By Moffat Rd would be logical,but I've been coming to Tauranga for over 40 years from the Kaimais and can't ever recall an airstrip near the road.It must have been flatish to be used by commuter and aero club flights.
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Post by Bruce on Aug 1, 2010 18:14:55 GMT 12
I was over at Tauranga today with an SAA meeting - I should have asked some ofthe "old timers" over there about it. A couple of SAA People are building aircraft in an old fruit packhouse on Belk Rd. I don't think they have an airfield on that particular property though. On Google earth I did find what could be a small airstrip nearby - only about 400m though, which isn't huge:
37°46'1.98"S 176° 5'52.97"E
Something I noticed in the Tauranga Aero Club rooms however are nice new wall murals showing photos of aircraft - Including the Southern Cross, operating from exposed sandflats in the estuary at the bottom of Elisabeth St. Aparently operations were 1hr either side of low tide only!
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Post by The Red Baron on Aug 1, 2010 18:47:49 GMT 12
I think -37° 45' 30.65", +176° 5' 25.16" may have been where the gliding club was,the hangar was visible from the SH 29/Belk Rd intersection.
37°46'1.98"S 176° 5'52.97"E looks like a topdressing strip.
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lockie
Leading Aircraftman
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Post by lockie on Aug 27, 2022 0:45:29 GMT 12
I think -37° 45' 30.65", +176° 5' 25.16" may have been where the gliding club was,the hangar was visible from the SH 29/Belk Rd intersection. 37°46'1.98"S 176° 5'52.97"E looks like a topdressing strip. |
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lockie
Leading Aircraftman
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Post by lockie on Aug 27, 2022 1:14:35 GMT 12
I realize this is an old thread, but had to update that my husband and I own the property which was the old Tauriko glider club. My husbands parents bought it off the club in 1980. They converted it to a kiwifruit orchard soon after, which to this day it still remains as such. My husband purchased the property from his parents in 1999. The old club room/hall is now our house and hasn't really changed much except for interior walls and garden landscaping.The old hangar is still here too. It was a pack house for a while now it's our implement/storage and work shed. Many of our friends and people that visit have memories of coming here when it was the glider club. I wonder if anyone reading this would have any pictures of those days. It Would be neat to see what it looked like. Also does anyone know what year it was bulit?
Thanks Sue Collier
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