RNZAF memories in their building names

[Dave Homewood]

One of the pleasant things I found when I was in the RNZAF was that they'd named certain buildings in memory of certain people or aircraft in RNZAF history. Here are the nice evocative names I remember:

At Whenuapai

Vincent Block
Barracks named after the Vickers Vincent (this block was refurbished in 1990 ery nicely, and a lovely frosted glass window with engraved picture of a Vincent flying was put at the main entrance. I wish I'd photographed it now.

Bristol Block
The big barracks with the Airman's mess included, named after the Bristol Fighter/Freighter/engines? - no-one seems to know

I spent time living in both the above blocks.

At Hobsonville
Hudson Block - barracks
Ventura Block - barracks I lived there 7 months!
Meteor Block - barracks
The Sunderland Lounge - the base institute (ie like town hall, all functions, dances, receptions, base meetings, etc are held on a base that the Institute)

At Wigram
The Harvard Lounge
This was a great function building provided specifically for social club does for the verious units. It was seperate from Wigram's Instaitute.
also
Trigg Block - barracks
Trent Block - barracks
Ward Block - barracks
Frances Briars Block - the WAAF's barracks, a massive old WWII building. All the above barracks were named as memorials after three VC winners and the first WAAF officer, are now demolished! I think the Harvard Lounge, a 1970's building, is also gone.

I don't recall any historically named buildings at Ohakea or Woodbourne, though nowadays Woody's Institute is known as The Delta Lounge, reflecting the nearby wartime RNZAF Station, which is nice.

Does anyone know of others on these or other bases? Any at te Rapa, Shely Bay or elsewhere over the years?

[corsair67]

Even though I am absolutely appalled by what has been done to Wigram (i.e. building private houses right up to the back of the hangars!), I am pleased that they have kept all the street names that were there, and have continued with the theme of naming any new streets after aircraft which served in the NZPAF/RNZAF. Wigram was the birthplace of the RNZAF, but that hasn't saved it from being shafted by the NZ Govt. and then flogged off by Ngai Tahu 'Ltd'!

Dave, were Trigg, Trent and Ward barracks the new ones built in the 1980s at the southern end of the base, near hangar 7? If so, they're still there, and are now used as student accommodation (I think!).

AC Parrotfish: are you able to confirm, please?

[Dave Homewood]

Trigg, Trent and Ward were 1970's or so I believe. Three story grey concrete blocks. They're gone. The two newer ones built about 1989 beside them (Springs Road side) were A Block and B Block. They were the best barracks in the RNZAF full stop. Superb place to live, I lived in B Block, room 33 for 2 and a 1/2 years.

When the RNZAF cleared out in 1995 those two new blocks became accomodation for down and outers I hear, and about 1996 there was a murder in one of the blocks! It sickens me, they had it on the news and the place looked disgraceful, really run down in the space of a year. They were always spotless barracks in my day. I have many happy memories of that place, and knowing it was turned into a dos house for druggies and street kids pisses me off.

[corsair67]

Dave, a friend of a friend was at Wigram in 1987-89 and we often popped into see him when he was there (he was in one of those newer tower blocks), and I agree, they were pretty flash. In winter, I think they were probably some of the warmest and most comfortable buildings in all of Christchurch, especially when compared to some of the old 1940s barracks that were still around on Wigram in those days!

I recall that on weekends they'd drag me along to the Airman's Mess for dinner, and I always used to worry that someone was going to come up, tap me on the shoulder and ask who the hell I was. I remember the food was always pretty good, although the air force guys complained about it a bit!

[Dave Homewood]

Those barracks were certainly warm. For the first few weeks when I moved into mine in May 91, I was sweltering and had to have the windows open all day and night, till I found the NCO who held the key for adjusting the radiators. He was going around turning everyone's up on request for winter. I had to get him to turn mine down! I later bypassed the key system and could adjust mine at will.

The old H-blocks were almost always empty when I lived there, and were merely transit blocks. In the holidays the snotgobblers used them too.

As for going to the mess occassionally, that's nothing. Whislt I lived there the RNZAF Police arrested some chap who had been living in one of the Trigg/Trent/Ward blocks for some months, and eating every day in the mess. He was not in the RNZAF and had no business being on the base at all! Somehow a mate who was in the RNZAF got him in, got him a key to the room, and he lived there happily without anyone suspecting. People who lived around him got to know him and assumed he worked on the base! They never twigged till later he was never seen in his uniform. But it was never unusual to see airmen in the mess or barracks in civvies. From memory he even used the base hairdresser and all that too. Hilarious really, but from a security point of view rather scary. Wigram could not control who went on and off base that well though because all sorts of people were allowed on to visit the museum.

Another interesting barrack story, we had a psycho RNZAF Police guy on base called Corporal Van L (I won't reveal the whole name). He was totally nuts. He was Dutch and had transferred to the RNZAF Police having been an MP in the Royal Netherlands Air Force. He thought he was Rambo and was a total laughing stock. He was caught doing loads of naughty stuff too, peeping tom into married quarter windows (and claiming he was checking security) and on an exercise at Wanaka he was detained by civvie police for following a teenaged girl along a dark street in the Air Force ute, slowly with the lights off. She ran for home and called the cops, freaked out. He explained he thought she was in danger in a dark street alone at night. With him around, everyone thought he was right.

Anyway, this one time, a barrack NCO was doing an inspection in empty roomsand found someone in one of the T/T/W block had been using one to grow a marijuana plant in. Amazing but true - you'd go to prison and probably lose your job for one puff in the RNZAF law, so virtually no-one went near drugs. This was a HUGE abuse of rules so the Provos (RNZAF Police) wanted to get the guy. Cpl Van L takes it upon himself to hide in the room's wardrobe (where the plant was hidden) with a camera, so when the door was opened he'd snap them red handed and have the evidence. He waited, according to the result that went around the base, 8 hours, and when the door was finally opened he clicked the cmera, the perpertrator smashed him in the face and legged it. Smug Cpl Van L went straight to the Photography section and developed the film. A nice photo of a pair of legs in Air Force uniform! He never even saw the face, near alone snapped it, and the offender was never caught. Man, the entire base laughed about that - no matter how shocked we all were about pot being grown, it was a morale victory for whoever it was that smashed him and got away with it. Everyone who ever met the guy wanted to smash him.

I heard from other Provos who worked with him they used to argue to try not to get rostered with him. And an armourer mate told me virtually every week this Cpl put in a request to draw a side arm to carry, and every time was told to F off.

I wonder where that guy is now.

[Bruce]

Manning a speed camera somewhere? :-)