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Post by harrysone on May 10, 2022 9:17:17 GMT 12
Some mosaiced NZAM imagery I have put together from individual frames which show Seagrove both in 1942 (presumably still under construction) and again in 1949 (presumably after disestablishment). 1942  Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr 1949  Untitled by Harry Follas, on Flickr |
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 10, 2022 9:57:43 GMT 12
Excellent photos there Harry. This one came up a few days back on the Air Force Museum of New Zealand page too. MUS090237 Aerial oblique view of RNZAF Station Seagrove. Circa WW2  |
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Post by emron on May 11, 2022 20:17:19 GMT 12
The Press, 16 February 1962.
N.Z. RESEARCH WORK
IN SPACE OUTLINED
Dr. F. J. Llewellyn, chairman of the New Zealand University Grants Committee, was appointed chairman of the National Space Research committee of the Royal Society of New Zealand at its meeting in Wellington this week.
Although no direct satellite or rocket work is yet being carried out in New Zealand, and probably will not be on other than a minor scale for a long time, it was reported that New Zealand scientists are now actively observing satellite behaviour.
For example, Auckland University, at the Seagrove field site run by the physics department some 40 miles from the city, has for some years been measuring the angles of arrival by long-distance radio signals using a 60ft diameter rotating aerial system. It was, therefore a comparatively simple matter to switch over to the measurement of the angles of arrival of radio signals transmitted from satellites, the meeting was told. Information on the variations of the ionosphere, or upper atmosphere, through which the signals have to pass is being obtained. This work is now supported by a contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in America.
The University of Canterbury is also contract supported from America in its work on the outer atmosphere, including radar studies of fine meteoric dust coming into the atmosphere from outer space. The mathematics department is well known overseas for its research on the most efficient paths for satellite passages deep into the solar system.
The Dominion Physical Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Lower Hutt has now commenced an active programme of measuring the fluctuations in strength or “scintillation” of signals from satellites passing over or near New Zealand, and by this means is finding irregularities in the outer atmosphere at high latitudes. This work is being extended.
Other university and D.S.I.R. work on rockets is just getting underway. This New Zealand work was outlined to the committee and it was stated that England had offered New Zealand facilities for installing scientific equipment in Skylark rockets to be fired at Woomera in Australia. The possibility of carrying out at least one such experiment is now being investigated by the D.S.I.R.
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Post by flyinghilly2 on May 11, 2022 21:16:37 GMT 12
I havent read all the comments on this very interesting thread but I wonder if people are aware that in 2007 Max Poole published a book called "Seagrove, Where's that?"
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 11, 2022 22:46:46 GMT 12
Yes it is mentioned in the thread, and it was Max Poole who went with Bevan Dewes and myself to Seagrove and he gave us the guided tour. Great bloke.
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Post by emron on Jun 13, 2022 12:46:29 GMT 12
My parents took over seagrove farm as an ex servicemans lease around 1955 and we sold it about 1980. About 1968 Motat removed all the aircraft parts we had found including the 6? wheel trolley that circled a post at the intersection of the 2 runways that carried the radar array. The hangar floors can still be found in chunks by probing the swampy ground at the base of the hill and there is still an aircraft wing that a digger cut thru [according to the bulldozer driver, at the end everything was typically Bulldozed into a pit by the yanks but Motat couldn't find it - there's also supposed to be at least 2 crashed aircraft buried and one dauntless in the mud in the creek]. There is a full network of once- sealed taxyways linking the hangars and strips, these are what the car clubs used .The radio research station run by the university was there because in the early years there were no fences to cause interference. The current building [and aerials] astride the runway is a CAA radio/microwave relay station for mangere build circa 1970. As for the road end the Franklin council acknowledged to dad that it was legal road to the end boundary now fenced off but they never maintained it as it was our private access. The runways were fully sealed but the gravel foundations are much much wider [ to allow for bombers?] The only foundations remaining are supposed to be of the cookhouse althought there is a mysterious rock wall in the cliff by the main taxyway intersection that may be blocking a tunnel?. The air to ground gunnery range was on the beach by the road end where we could dig .50 projectiles out of the bank and the bomb range was a concrete float by camp Morely at Clarks Beach where we could dig corroded smoke bombs out of the mud as kids until the MOD had a clean up! All these years later I’m hard pressed to know what these items given to MOTAT were, or if any of them remain in the collection. But I do know of one intriguing item at the Museum that was once used at the Seagrove Radio Research Station by it’s long-time Director, the late Dr. Harry Whale. This is the Meccano Differential Analyser, an early mechanical analogue computer built at Cambridge University in the mid 1930’s and brought to NZ by Harry Whale in 1951 to set up the Research Station. Link : www.motat.nz/collections-and-stories/stories/a-meccano-computer-motats-differential-analyser |
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Post by Antonio on Jun 13, 2022 17:21:28 GMT 12
Brilliant article.
And Meccano too...Ahhhh
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Post by camtech on Jun 13, 2022 20:30:10 GMT 12
That Meccano analyser is a work of art - that comes from a current practising Meccano builder - moi!
Oh and the article is great, too.
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murdsnz
Leading Aircraftman
Posts: 2
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Post by murdsnz on Dec 26, 2022 9:49:17 GMT 12
Hi guys brand new to he site but have been doing a bit of work at a mates when one of the neighbours told me that there was a old ww2 runway in front of ly mates place thought he was pulling my chain. What a fantastic piece of history been down there every day having a poke ariund couple of photos i took this morning
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murdsnz
Leading Aircraftman
Posts: 2
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Post by murdsnz on Dec 26, 2022 9:52:21 GMT 12
Nit sure how to post ohotos
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Post by baz62 on Dec 26, 2022 11:00:22 GMT 12
Nit sure how to post ohotos Welcome to the Forum. Everyone goes through this stage......how to get cool photos on the Forum?? Ok so I upload phtots to my Flickr account. Then you open a photo you wish to upload as shown below (and have your Forum message open in another Tab):  Screenshot (24) by Barry Tod, on Flickr If you look at the lower right you will see an arrow. Click it. In the center a box displays the link for your photo. Above this are the different types of link. For the Forum click on "BBCode". Left click on the link and it will automatically highlight it in blue.  Screenshot (25) by Barry Tod, on Flickr Then right click the highlighted link and choose copy. Then go to the Forum  Screenshot (26) by Barry Tod, on Flickr Then in your message right click and select paste where you want the photo to display (either after or before a description). Just don't do what Ive done and gone back to edit something then pasted the link and realsied its in the middle of all your text. Then you just have to delete it and paste it where it was supposed to go ha ha. To make sure its worked click the preview button beofre clicking "Create Post". Try a test using the preview without posting until you've got it. Any problem just ask. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 26, 2022 11:07:47 GMT 12
Two tips:
One is only post the link when you're looking at the main Reply form page, not the Preview view, as the link wont work if posted directly into Preview.
And two, when the link is posted and you click Preview to see if it worked, you can then highlight the tag it creates and delete it to make it tidier. When I say tag, if you look at Baz's last photo it has "Screenshot (26) by Barry Tod, on Flickr" after it. You can remove that data tag and the photo will remain there.
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Post by womble47 on May 20, 2023 12:29:35 GMT 12
It is with regret that I have to tell everyone that Max Poole (Author of where is Seagrove )passed away yesterday .RIP Buddy
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 20, 2023 16:16:00 GMT 12
Oh no, that is very sad to hear. He was a nice guy, and a wealth of knowledge on Seagrove.  |
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Post by jellywrestler on May 21, 2023 21:12:03 GMT 12
It is with regret that I have to tell everyone that Max Poole (Author of where is Seagrove )passed away yesterday .RIP Buddy |
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Post by jellywrestler on May 21, 2023 21:16:26 GMT 12
The track was certainly sealed as my Dad's cousin who was involved with the racing said they moved to Ardmore with races because the seal was breaking up on Seagrove. I assumed the runways were also sealed, I can't recall what Bob said about them. Yes it was sealed, in fact it was new zealand first fully sealed circuit and was the first military base to have motorcycle racing in new zealand. Max Poole who passed away yesterday was a child on the place after it was an airbase, he wrote a book, Seagrove.... Where's that and details the motorcycle racing, and some car stuff |
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Post by jellywrestler on May 21, 2023 21:18:40 GMT 12
Hi Steve, Yes, I'm aware my map for the location of Seagrove is wrong. I intend to alter it sooner or later. I have the book "Franklin Remembers" which I picked up from TradeMe last year. However it has a sick-making smell about it and it has been airing since I bought it trying to rid the stench. So I haven't been able to bring myself to read it properly yet. It smells of something between stale cigarette smoke and vomit, and makes me wretch if I flick the pages over. Oooh!! Also my late Dad's cousin, Bob Homewood, recently told me a bit about the aerodrome as he used to go there in the 1950's when it was a popular car racing track. He kindly went out and photographed the area for me which will soon appear on the site when I do the update. I don't know how recognisable from the air it is now, but it looks just like farmland in the photos he took. Then so does Te Pirita in ground level photos but that's very distinctive from above. Te Pirita is no longer visible from the air, since it has had large circular crops put in there all trace has gone |
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 21, 2023 21:27:24 GMT 12
Yes, indeed. I visited Seagrove with Max Poole and my best mate Bevan Dewes only a few years back and we got all the history from Max, and found some of the sealed runway that is now buried.
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2023 17:15:29 GMT 12
Very sad news, thank you for sharing.
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