Galatea Airfield

[dicana]

Re- Bruce’s memory of the airfield hut. Like Bruce I was brought up at Galatea and went to primary school across the road from the airfield, I can remember in the early fifty’s going across to the hut from the school and listening on the old party line telephone.
My feeling was that there were two huts there but when I started learning to fly there, in the early sixties there was only one. Those original huts were situated across the road from the headmaster’s house. I’m sure the huts were much the same as the Ministry of Works huts.
Matt Harray hangared his Avian in a shed he constructed near the huts, it was always fascinating watch him fold the wings and push it into his hangar. I did hear at one stage that when Matt departed from Matamata he would head straight for the Kaimai range and rely on the updraft of the range to get sufficient altitude over them, then on to Galatea.
The airfield size would have been around the average size of many of the farms there say 150-170 acres. The length (north-south) was probably twice as long as shown on the data from 1939 assuming that line at 700yrds is a fence.
Have a photo of a DC 3 loading up with carrots in the mid fifties which I will try and locate.

[eieio]

dicana.....Captain Pratt[ret] I presume .Hope that does not blow your cover, Quite right ,memory has been jogged ,one hut had a large door ,recall a 44gal avgas drum ,lord knows who owned it . Other hut would pass as the CO's office .So while dissecting the drome ,the marked trees [6 yr] were I believe standing when I started school [1950] .Shortly after they became a pile of blackberry covered rubbish .
Disasters at this drome ,one piper cub did a nosedive into the school grounds ,a much butchered microlight failed to fly with fatal results,

[dicana]

Correct... The piper cub incident I think was related to fog or patchy fog. I can vaguely remember when I was very young my Aunty who was very high up in the Air Force in the medical side came up to visit, cant remember if the aircraft was a Rapide or Dominie. I do remember being absolutely terrified of this big biplane with two very noisy engines. Must have been a good jolly for the crew to land at Galatea.

[Peter Lewis]

Piper PA18A Super Cub 95 ZK-BTZ Rotorua AC - Cr in fog into grounds of Galatea School 29Oct67. Pilot Des Thompson.

Ultralight Flight Mirage ZK-KJA W E Richards, Rotorua - Cr Galatea 4Jul84.


Skycraft Scout III ZK-FKG F M Conder, Wanganui - Destroyed in accident at Galatea, canc 10Aug1995.

[eieio]

The accident report on the fatal micro accident should be compulsory reading for any one doing their own maintenance .

[zkdex]

My thanks also to Peter...even if its over a year late! The 1939 plan of Galatea is extremely interesting, especially given that Galatea was most certainly expanded after this date - probably in 1942??? The present runway does occupy the western side of the old emergency landing ground, running parallel with Galatea Road, and extending further north than the old ELG.
For those of you who are pilots, the NZAIP information for Galatea classes the runway as Group 8, ESWL 5700. Can anyone please elaborate on the group classifications?

Returning to 2015...the Urewera Aero Club Inc still seems to be in existence, but I think the phone number is long out of date.

Ron

[Barnsey]

Straight cut n paste from NZCAA AC91-3:
3. Group rating system
3.1 Another method for compliance with the Civil Aviation Regulations 1953 performance requirements was the group rating system.
3.2 The performance group rating system has been in use for a number of years as a simple method for operators of aeroplanes with a MCTOW of 2270 kg or less to determine the adequacy of the runway length for their particular aeroplane type.
3.3 Each aircraft type with a MCTOW of 2270 kg or below was given a group rating number in the aircraft flight manual. The number for a particular aircraft type is determined on the basis of its take-off and landing performance.
3.4 Each runway is given a group number and, in practice, a pilot may use any runway that has a group number equal to or greater than the aeroplane group rating for the aeroplane type.
3.5 If the aircraft you operate is given a group rating number in the aircraft flight manual, you may continue to use that group rating number for compliance with the performance requirements.

ESWL - The theoretical load which, if acting on a single tire, with a contact area equal to that of one tire of the assembly, will produce the same effect on the movement area as the multiple wheel assembly.

The ESWL doesn't really mean much to pilots. It was devised in the 1940s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a way to adapt the CBR (California Bearing Ratio) thickness design measure for flexible airport pavements. The equivalent single-wheel load (ESWL) concept relates multiple-wheel gear loads to an equivalent single-wheel load for substitution into the CBR equation.

[Deleted]

Apologies for the zombie thread, but I had to add to this:

Aug 11, 2015 20:34:21 GMT 12 eieio said:

The accident report on the fatal micro accident should be compulsory reading for any one doing their own maintenance .

I was recently given a box of accident reports and I read the ZK-KJA one this evening. Bruce was quite right, it makes for disturbing and shocking reading at times. It's no wonder microlights have had such a poor reputation - I'm glad times have changed!

[davidd]

I have just read through this thread, and still nobody has looked up the obvious source for some authoritative information on ancient NZ aerodromes (now THAT word dates me!), the War History of the Aerodrome Services Branch of the Public Works Department (E A Gibson and all that). From memory, and as one of the earlier posters alluded to, Galatea and Rotherham (in North Canterbury) were both slated as emergency aerodromes for Whenuapai and Ohakea in 1942 (these latter being the two airfields which up been upgraded with concrete runways for the Americans, for B-17s and B-24s, etc.), but little was done to improve the two dispersal fields as both were considered fairly good as they were, apart from requiring any boulders or ruts, as well as scrubby trees to be removed, as well as any existing farm fences. As history records, the services of these two remote airfields were never to be called upon. It is possible that one, or both, of these fields had been identified and surveyed in latter half of 1930s, as New Zealand became more "air-minded" and the civil airlines were stating to spread their wings over an increasingly extensive network. When I have time, might type up the entry on Galatea (and Rotherham?) for general information, don't think there is an enormous amount on these two.
David D

[Dave Homewood]

I for one have never heard of Rotherham before. And my understanding was the two airfields that were designated as emergency airfields should the USAAF need to bring its B-17's and B-24's to New Zealand were Waharoa and Te Pirita.

[chinapilot]

Regarding Rotherham there was still a large field there in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

This was suitable for ab initio circuit training and the Canterbury Aero Club used to send up Bruce Miller for the day to instruct various farmers in the area who wanted to learn to fly.

[jaybee]

I have just read through this thread, and still nobody has looked up the obvious source for some authoritative information on ancient NZ aerodromes (now THAT word dates me!), the War History of the Aerodrome Services Branch of the Public Works Department (E A Gibson and all that).

Hi David, I have just picked up my copy of the Official War History of the Aerodrome branch, PWD and there is nothing substantive on Galatea beyond listing it as an emergency airfield at the outbreak of war. I can’t see any reference to Rotherham (haven’t heard of it before!).

I checked the Air Pilots Volume on NZ Airfields, service edition dated 1944 printed by the Aerodrome branch, and it contains 2 pages on Galatea but nothing on Rotherham. Galatea is listed as having a landing area N-S of 1750 yards, NE-SW of 1150 yards, E-W of 650 yards, and NW-SE of 650 yards.

[Peter Lewis]

To help things along, here is the gen on Galatea from the 1948 'Air Pilot', correct as at 1/8/1947






and an aerial view of the airfield from the same publication.
Referencing the plan from above, this appears to have been taken from the north looking south.



From the information given, Galatea seems to have been substantially enlarged since 1939.

There is no mention of Rotherham  in either of these two Air Pilots nor in the 1947 edition of Whites Air Directory.

[dustyredgodfrey]

I am not aware of a Rotherham strip,but Culverden only a stones throw away. Still active but not plated since the early nineties.is this the one referred to ?

[thomarse]

I'd be pretty sure that it is. Like Galatea, Culverden was an Ag-DC3 strip so presumably at one time it was 1600m (1 mile) long

[jaybee]

Hi, I can’t find any reference to Culverden in the Official War History of the Aerodrome branch, PWD or the Air Pilots Volume on NZ Airfields, service edition dated 1944, so I am guessing it’s post war?

[davidd]

jaybee, you are so right! (24 Dec post) Practically no mention (although quite a bit of interesting stuff about the Haast airfield which is intriguing us all!) Am attempting to locate (or remember!) where I read about the dispersal airfields, might have even been part of the newspaper story of the Te Parita field (published October 1945, obviously written by somebody familiar with the story, perhaps in Air Dept, or even ASB), but have definitely read of the surveys made of Galatea and Rotherham. I used to have a photo copy of most of the Air Department file on history of Te Parita, but that was lost about 35 years ago when I rather foolishly loaned it to a friend who was intensely interested in the subject, who then on-loaned it (without asking me) to a third party, who handed it onto a fourth .... Have not heard of is location from that day to this. The good thing is, so far as I know, the original file should still be with Archives NZ. The file included a report written by A J Bradshaw, who was asked to reconnoitre a great swathe of the east coast of the South Island, and then follow up with ground inspections of all likely sites for a large aerodrome capable of handling contemporary types of heavy bombing aircraft (B-17, B-24) for dispersal purposes, and as quickly as possible. He was allocated a light aircraft (I seem to recall it was one of the Wacos) and got on with the job. Unfortunately cannot locate at present my Te Parita file (although it is definitely in the house!), will require more than a half hour search as I do have an awful lot of paper on various subjects that interest me.

Nevertheless, despite my recent brain failure, the War History of the ASB (a Branch of the PWD) is essential reading for anybody interested in the early history of aerodromes in NZ, although most of the very early stuff can only be found easily in contemporary newspapers (thank you Papers Past), at least on the "official" aerodromes that had Government recognition (civil or military). It was very thoughtful of the RNZAF to have sponsored a reprint of the 1947 history of the ASB, which provides context and general information on a very broad range of subjects and locations, concentrating on the years 1935 to 1946, but the number actually printed was probably very limited.

Will continue hunting for that Te Parita file.

David D

[jaybee]

Hi David, thanks for the feedback as I was worried that I was missing something! I am fortunate to have a 1947 reprint but it can be frustratingly vague on some things.... I would be keen to touch base about your aerodrome files at some point. Cheers

[AussieBob]

In another thread "Lost Airfields" there are 2 comments re Rotherham airstrip;

davidd
Group Captain
*****

davidd Avatar

Posts: 2,184


Feb 28, 2017 at 10:29am Ian Warren likes this
Quote
Post Options
Post by davidd on Feb 28, 2017 at 10:29am
The two other back-up dispersal fields built on behalf of the Americans in New Zealand in 1942 were Rotherham (as already described earlier in thread) and Galatea in the North Island. These sites where chosen because practically no real work was required apart from pulling out various shrubs, moving scattered boulders, etc, out of the way, and removing existing fences. These fields were surveyed and more or less held in reserve in case the Japanese managed to advance further south than they already were, which of course they did not. So the sheep occupying these fields were never really disturbed by the throb of four turbo-charged Wright Cyclones.

and,
shamus
Group Captain
*****

shamus Avatar

Posts: 661


Jun 29, 2010 at 10:47am
Quote
Post Options
Post by shamus on Jun 29, 2010 at 10:47am
Did not know their was a B17 field to be built at Reporoa. Their was one to be built at Rotherham, near Hamner Springs in Canterbury but this was never started. Would be interested to hear more about this North Island airfield.

[zkdex]

Re Galatea Aerodrome, thank you for the recent posts, plus photograph, which confirm that Galatea was indeed enlarged from its original development, and there was an "intention" for its use by American aircraft.
Most of what can be seen in the photograph is now leased for farming, with the present runway running parallel with the road along the western boundary.