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Post by eieio on Jan 22, 2021 19:24:21 GMT 12
Inteesting to contemplate the practicality of Galatea as a base of any sort ,Fuel for starters ,close to a 2 hour drive from Rotorua rail head in a truck of the day .Edgecumbe rail being much the same exercise .
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Post by davidd on Jan 23, 2021 11:08:07 GMT 12
Dispersal fields such as the ones under discussion were not to be compared with normal operational dromes. They generally had few, if any facilities, and were supposed to be practically invisible from the air, and were only intended to be used in extreme emergencies, such as invasion or carrier raids. The sole reason for their existence was to provide some security for valuable (and scarce) heavy American bombers by moving them from the operational aerodromes to locations not shown on any maps. It was generally understood that these aircraft would be ferried to the dispersal sites with enough onboard fuel to return to their main base. There was no provision for maintaining stocks of fuel/oil, or any ordnance at these fields. However at the large (3-runway) field at Te Parita there were several (three I think) 11,000 gallon underground fuel storage tanks, and widespread dispersal areas available among the numerous pine plantations, which were introduced to replace the original plan for numerous revetments which were expensive and slow to build with the very limited resources available at the time. Three or four of the revetments were actually completed, and are possibly still there, although may have been filled in since.
David D
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Post by dustyredgodfrey on Jan 30, 2021 17:46:54 GMT 12
The rivetments are still there 3? They have been worked over/ filled and barely visible from the air but very obvious from the ground. The runways are clearly visible during summer in the un irrigated areas.
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