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Post by beagle on Jan 3, 2012 21:43:50 GMT 12
Went through there today on way home from town and yes, even though it has only been a month or so, the development continues to grow and grow. The main reason though was to get an image of "50 at the main gate.  |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 3, 2012 22:33:45 GMT 12
It even looks gorgeous in the wet!
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Post by beagle on Jan 3, 2012 22:38:42 GMT 12
wet, wet, WET, doesn't rain down here bud.
was just a bit of high cloud that didn't dispurse as usual today
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 3, 2012 22:53:11 GMT 12
OK then, it looks great in the drought too.
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Post by baronbeeza on Nov 27, 2013 13:55:28 GMT 12
 Looking West over the old Wigram airbase. Runway in centre of pic running left to right and parallel with the new Southern Motorway at bottom of pic. The Northern Taxiway can still be seen and it runs around to the top of the new town centre, the Mall. |
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Post by baronbeeza on Nov 27, 2013 18:48:31 GMT 12
 I am guessing the second pic was taken 6 or 7 years ago. Maybe even 2005.... Don and others may be able to work it out. I will put a little more thought into it also. I can remember that period exactly but don't have a yard stick. Spitfire Place behind CTS for example is still getting established. The pic can be enlarged substantially also. upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/WigramAirfieldChristchurch.jpgen.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WigramAirfieldChristchurch.jpgen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigram_AerodromeFor those not familiar with the new layout it appears that the two new roads will form the heart of the subdivision. The old Springs Road gate behind the Gymnasium and Harvard Lounge is now one of the main entries. There are lights at the intersection and it runs down the side of the oval, squeezes through the parade ground gap between SGHQ (Control Tower) and 4 Hangar. It then cuts across the airfied onto Wigram Road and I think a flyover on the new Southern Motorway. That leading into the Halswell area. The other main road will very soon be established... 'The Runway'. Oh, and yes we now have houses on Auster Avenue..!!! Correcting what I said earlier. It can be seen that while Corsair Drive does indeed link up as I mentioned it does take a joggle about the new mall area. That can be seen in the top pic taken a few months ago. I checked and we have another major player. Skyhawk Road is the one that will run from the overbridge, past the mall, and onto the end of Vickery's Road ! www.wigramskies.co.nz/for-sale/master-plan Springs Road/Corsair Drive lights looking North towards Main South Road. |
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Post by suthg on Nov 27, 2013 22:10:02 GMT 12
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Post by bobajob on Nov 27, 2013 23:04:06 GMT 12
Sad the finality of it, however the time line is very well done. The E&I school has gone great memories
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Post by baronbeeza on Nov 28, 2013 14:24:15 GMT 12
Thanks for the photo series Graeme, very graphic indeed. The place is just a hive of activity at the moment. Because there are so many streets, and sections, now available to work on there has to be at least 40 houses getting worked on at any one time. It certainly appears that way from driving about there.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if one or two weren't being completed and handed over every day.
The photographs of mid-next year are going to be mind-blowing. We will appreciate having the progress pics to get our bearings. The Runway and Town Centre will help, at least for those that have flown off the field.
It only seems like last year that I was operating off there, strong memories indeed.
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Post by baronbeeza on Mar 7, 2014 17:05:24 GMT 12
wet, wet, WET, doesn't rain down here bud. was just a bit of high cloud that didn't dispurse as usual today I have been asked how the drainage bunds at Wigram managed to cope with the overcast conditions of earlier this week. I went down today and had a quick look from the road, - the earthworks at the Northern end of the field are still swamped but all else appears normal. I am thinking it may have been on a tv news report but I have not seen anything in the media. Anyone here (Don) get a chance to see how the landscaping coped on Tuesday/Wednesday ? |
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Post by skyhawkdon on Mar 7, 2014 18:45:43 GMT 12
I was out of town for the big wet but when I got back on Wednesday night some of the new roads were flooded and closed off. A big portable pump was working to try and clear it off the streets and redirect it into the ponds on Awatea Road. Not sure if it got into any houses but it must have been close. When the subdivision is fully built up there will be a lot more run off than there is now... makes you wonder how it will cope then if it couldn't now! Glad our place is away from all this and quite elevated from the road.
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Post by baronbeeza on Mar 7, 2014 19:15:25 GMT 12
So were those ponds along Awatea Rd pretty well full Don ? I thought they were some form of storage capacity to add something of a buffer in event of a drain bottleneck. I wish now I had ventured out to see it for myself, I didn't realise the flooding was so close to home. I can't get my head around how the new subdivision could flood, I never saw any standing water here during the week but boy it was a continuous downpour...... this from a West Coaster.
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Post by baronbeeza on Jan 9, 2015 14:44:59 GMT 12
 I have stolen this pic from one of the other threads but it has relevance here also. We will have a date for this soon but it is probably sometime in the mid-50's and shows Wigram and the surrounding housing. |
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Post by Ian Warren on Jan 9, 2015 15:29:30 GMT 12
Another excuse I was told by people in the Wigram flight schools and concurred with the old Pionair airline, a mask was put up saying it was to dangerous to land aircraft onto or fly them out due to the building and construction .. sorta poppy cock dribble, course at that stage they had already decided whether of not it is a "Historical Site" .... In my eyes growing up around the area, seeing the changes and course read and talked to many. Personally, I look at people who are, have and interest and they ask when they ask the question, why was it closed .... and this was only a week back, New Years evening .. Again, One said why dose so many sites in the NZ build something with a historical significance only to rip it apart ? ...... Wigram should have been kept open as an aviation park/museum and for the small and growing business in the industry .. Only a Memory now. Baron - I have the photo here  |
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Post by trimotor on Mar 9, 2015 4:56:04 GMT 12
Fag packet assessment and vested interests. The assertion that flying training could be as effectively achieved at Ohakea or Woodboure was subsequently shown to be a fallacy. Classic crap decision-making: make a decision, realise it's the wrong one, but persist anyway. grieves me.
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Post by trimotor on Mar 9, 2015 4:56:34 GMT 12
'50' does look better than in the old yellow scheme..
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Post by thelensofhistory on Mar 11, 2015 15:55:39 GMT 12
Sorry if this is off topic. Now that the moronic decision has been made to sell off Wigram , in the event of a wartime emergency where will the RNZAF undertake pilot/aircrew training?
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Post by isc on Mar 11, 2015 20:58:00 GMT 12
thelensofhistory, would they bother? Someone else will look after us... yer right. isc
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Post by thelensofhistory on Mar 12, 2015 22:33:41 GMT 12
thelensofhistory, would they bother? Someone else will look after us... yer right. isc Yeah in a war time emergency NZ is going to have to stand on its own two feet for a period of time. This is something that has never been addressed and won't be until its too late. |
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Post by baronbeeza on Mar 12, 2015 22:50:13 GMT 12
Wigram is more of a loss as a civilian airfield than as a military installation.
It has been almost 20 years since the RNZAF effectively marched out of the place and as far as pilot training went it was just 2 Mess and a hangar, oh and 1 Mess for the instructors.
Places like Ashburton or any suitable site could quickly be expanded if need be. I think the truth is that much of the training can be done in front of a computer these days anyway.
The RNZAF training has carried on but it is in GA where we have been seeing the complete decimation of the flying schools etc.
It was the closure of Wigram in 2009 that had a major effect.
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