RNZAF Station Waipapakauri Remembered

[Dave Homewood]

This comes from the NZ Herald site here
www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10119731

Memorial honours wartime air staff

11.04.05
by Tony Gee


Men and women who served with New Zealand defence forces at the former RNZAF Waipapakauri airfield 12km north of Kaitaia during World War II will be remembered when a memorial to them is formally unveiled this month.

The airfield, now farmland behind the Waipapakauri Hotel on the highway north to Cape Reinga, was a forward defence base for Air Force and Army personnel.

It hosted reconnaissance aircraft, bombers and transport planes from RNZAF and American Air Force units throughout the early 1940s.

The base was also home to medical units, with the hotel serving as a hospital at one time, while local and other civilians worked in supporting roles to keep the airfield operational.

A community effort over several years has resulted in the construction of a concrete plinth memorial on which will soon be mounted a restored and painted DC 3 propeller.

A plaque and enlarged photograph of the former airfield will be attached to the memorial. All work and installation is expected to be completed by Wednesday next week in time for the memorial’s unveiling on the following Saturday.

Memorial organising committee chairman Millie Srhoj said a lot of interest had been shown in the project, including by many people from outside the district who had a direct or family connection with the base.

Mr Srhoj said anyone who served at Waipapakauri in a defence force, medical, civilian or support role, or whose family members were stationed there in the 1940s, would be welcome at the 1pm unveiling, which will be done by a senior RNZAF representative.

Old wartime photographs of the base and its personnel are intended for display inside the nearby hotel, but more are needed.

The Minister of Veterans Affairs, George Hawkins, whose department granted $5000 towards the $42,000 cost of the project, will also speak at the ceremony.

Ongoing care of the memorial is expected to be undertaken by the Kaitaia Returned Services Association

[Bruce]

Hello everyone, Ive just got back from a weeks holiday in Northland and I thought Id update this thread with some really cool stuff i came across in my travels.
The weather definitely wasnt up to the "Winterless North" tag, as nearly every time I was out exploring historic sites it bucketed down with rain! firstly here is a pic of the new Waipapakauri memorial - (my apologies for the dark image - it gets like that in a thunderstorm!) this is alongside the Hotel (formerly the base hospital) and it looks absolutely stunning.



The only other acessible relic is the operations room, which was originally buried underground, but has subsequently been cleared - this is beside the main road, close to where the 3 runways intersected:



Related to Waipapakauri but not on site is its aviation fuel reserve (similar to the AR9 reserve in cambridge) which was located in the disused railway tunnel at Okaihau (Near Kaikohe) you can still drive through the tunnel:



Thats not all however....
I visted the Far North District Museum at Kaitaia and got chatting to the curator, Des Cotman. Aparently the memorial has prompted a whole lot of material to come to light regarding the base, some of which will be incorporated in a book covering the areas history (not just the base) which is due out by the end of this year - no title or details yet sorry. The museum holds a whole lot of this new material, and they will be updating thier display, but only after the book has been released. While I was browsing around the excellent museum, Des actually dug out a few of the boxes of stuff, and I was able to go "behind the scenes" and look at them. I was staggered by what I saw. There was a series of 20 -30 large (A4ish size) Hi resolution aerial photos taken during construction of the base in 1943. Many of the photos showed details of the dispersal areas in the sandhills to the west of the field. there were approx 12 large sunken revetments, each involving a considerable amount of earthworks. some of these revetments hald bow type hangars, others were left open, but the majority had some form of roof structure covered with camo net and Manuka scrub. the photos showed Vincents ;D undergoing serving in the dispersals, and a few Hudsons. a number of wooden dummy hudsons were located on the opposite side of the field. I also saw a very large vertical aerial photo taken in 1944 with the base virtually finished. from that I can say that the runways are now hidden by trees, drains and a section of State Highway 1. The revetments are aparently still there, but on private land. I will have to fly over the site when I fly up next.... I hope that these photos make it into the book (Obviously I couldnt take any copies or scans...)but will make an excellent museum display (To go with a battered exhaust pipe off a hudson which crashed and exploded on the field with a load of depth charges, and some of the radio gear from the ops room). It is a pity though that so far noone has done any archeological investigation around the site, and some features have already been obliterated by road realignments - anyone interested?

[Dave Homewood]

Wow. Thanks Bruce. This is fascinating stuff. I have always found Waipapakauri one of those places that intrigues me when I read about it, and I really must visit the old station someday. It was one of the country's most important RNZAF Stations right from the early days of the war, 1941ish, when No. 1 (GR) Sqn sent a detachment of Vincents there to patrol the northern approaches. Later No. 7 Sqn was foirmed there, again with Vincents, which must be the ones in the photos you saw. It was also a major staging post to the Pacific, the last jumping off point/first arrival point (if the planes needed refuelling).

Any photos of the pub? That sered as the Officer's mess for No. 1 Sqn Detachment before they were kicked out and the RNZAF Hospital was set up.

That book sounds fascinating. I will have to contact the curator to see what I can find for my own new book project on the GR and BR Sqns of the RNZAF.

Thanks - yes, definately interested.