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Post by delticman on Mar 5, 2019 8:10:14 GMT 12
I've been watching a thread on Key Forum about early hangars. forum.keypublishing.com/forum/historic-aviation/92089-surviving-belfast-truss-hangarsSadly a lot of our World War II hangars have gone but there are several examples still in use, the Pacific Aerospace (ex James Aviation) at Hamilton and the ones at RNZAF Woodbourne. Does anyone know who designed them. I'm guessing it was a man inside the PWD and did they have a name. |
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Post by isc on Mar 5, 2019 13:36:43 GMT 12
There was one at Westmelton(out of Chch)twenty or so years back disassembled, a Japanese bloke was going to use it for a museum of vintage Japanese cars, but never got round to putting it up after the engineer he got in designed the foundations the wrong way round. It was an American design, complete with the assembly instructions, right down to which nail to put where, and how many hits with the hammer(not quite, but you get it). Don't know what happened to it. isc
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Post by tbf25o4 on Mar 6, 2019 8:33:59 GMT 12
Most of the wartime hangars were known as "mobilisation Hangars" and were designed by the PWD Aerodrome division. There would be information on their design and procurement in National Archives
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 6, 2019 8:46:12 GMT 12
WWII mobilisation hangars are still in use today at:
Whenuapai
Woodbourne
Ohakea (one of two remains)
Hamilton (one remains, the other went back to Whenuapai, but was replaced on the pad postwar)
Nelson (half hangar)
Omaka (half hangar)
Ones that had them but have since been removed include:
Tauranga
Harewood (one of those hangars is destined to be re-erected at Mercer)
One removed from Ohakea and replaced with a new building
Two removed from Wigram
Two removed from Taieri
Not sure if there were any others of the big hangars? Did Mangere get one? The rest of the large sized hangars such as at Milson, Harewood, Rongotai, etc, were pre-WWII civil and or military hangars.
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Post by curtiss on Mar 7, 2019 20:47:19 GMT 12
There is still a small WW2 hangar on Walsh's farm next to Woodbourne. It was probably built later in the war though.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 7, 2019 21:34:11 GMT 12
Fairhall was active only in 1942-1943 so mid-war, Mike.
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Post by madmac on Mar 7, 2019 22:27:30 GMT 12
There is an indoor climbing centre at Panmure that looks a lot like it could be in a relocated wartime hangar. www.google.com/maps/@-36.890527,174.8514427,3a,75y,249.71h,92.17t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sbeH2CHIQRGVEvp8VYaxsqg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Ferrymeads LC-47 hangar is an ex war time one, although it didn't originally sit on a nib wall. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 7, 2019 22:58:37 GMT 12
I think that Panmure hangar came from Mechanics Bay, didn't it? There's an older thread on the forum somewhere with details of all the wartime hangars.
That link opened up a map of Wairoa.
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Post by corsairarm on Mar 8, 2019 3:09:05 GMT 12
I think that Panmure hangar came from Mechanics Bay, didn't it? There's an older thread on the forum somewhere with details of all the wartime hangars. That link opened up a map of Wairoa. The Panmure hangar did come from Mechanics Bays. It was used by TEAL for their Flying Boats. |
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Post by davidd on Mar 9, 2019 11:29:17 GMT 12
Interestingly, one of the original Government hangars (erected Wigram 1920, one of two) was re-erected at Ferrymead (spelling?), I think by the vintage car mob way back in the 1970s/80s, but was later damaged by strong winds - perhaps our friend Denys can fill in the details on this one. Cannot recall what happened to the other Wigram Govt hangar, but I think it was also disposed of at about the same time.
David D
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Post by davidd on Mar 9, 2019 11:41:41 GMT 12
There were also a fair number of "temporary" hangars erected at numerous RNZAF aerodromes, made from cheap materials, such as light timber framing, thin plywood and malthoid (a type of tar paper I think) for waterproofing. Some of these struggled on "into the peace" and remained standing for many years, but the elements eventually triumphed and they gradually disintegrated. There were certainly quite a few at Ashburton and Norwood, and probably at most others such as Milson, Mangere, Waipapakauri, Onerahi, etc, etc, and were made in several sizes, and construction methods, and were only expected to last in service for the duration of the war (given reasonable maintenance). There common name was, I think, an aircraft pen, and some were sized to house aircraft as large as Oxfords, do not believe there were any larger sizes. I have a list somewhere of some of the designations used for them. Think they also got some coverage in the wartime history of the Aerodrome Services Branch of the PWD, along with dummy aircraft and other forgotten man0made objects. Some of the longest-lived of these hangars were the ones at Ashburton, where they were used to house most of the surplus Harvards (primarily the Mk. IIs, from NZ901 - 1005 series), until they had to be transferred to Wigram as the original roofs started caving in about 1953/54. They even had a permanent (paid) caretaker (civilian) at the 'drome to keep an eye on the hangars and their occupants.
David D
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Post by denysjones on Mar 9, 2019 20:59:32 GMT 12
There was/is a WW2 hangar at Ashburton which at one stage AAM had designs on doing something with but I don't know what the current state of play is but the last time I saw it it was pretty sad.
Our LC47 hangar isn't NZ original but is a RAF relocatable made by the firm of Dormans but also called Blister Hangars. Many came to NZ ex the war assets disposal in the UK and our one came from Lion Breweries Antigua St brewery here in CHC. I know of others as a second at Lion here (survived until the quakes trashed it and the whole brewery), Canterbury Malting (demolished after that operation closed), Target Furniture Blenheim Rd (extant), Canterbury Seed Addington (still existant but not sure who owns it now), BOC Gases Hornby, Mt Cook Airlines Queenstown (not sure of current status), and Lion Breweries AKL (again not sure if still there).
As regard the one davidd refers to ex-Wigram that came to Ferrymead it was one of the first Govt one erected there and in latter days one was the gym, one the chippies shop, and one MT flight. It was a basket case and another one of those projects that over time have come our way at Ferrymead when people with emotion have overcome those with commonsense and at the end of the day it has all turned to do-dos.
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