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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 13, 2021 19:56:34 GMT 12
Sad to see this. Built for No. 2 (GR) Squadron's Vincents and then Hudsons. Old hangar to be removed at Nelson AirportWarren Gamble 15:11, Oct 13 2021  Hangar 3 at Nelson Airport, built by the RNZAF in 1941, is being demolished to make way for a modern rescue fire centre. A disused 70-year-old Nelson Airport hangar, built by the Air Force, will be demolished and replaced with a new rescue fire centre. Hangar 3 was built by the RNZAF in 1941 but has largely sat idle for the last seven years. It was most recently used by Helicopters New Zealand from the 1960s until 2014. Airport chief executive Mark Thompson said the Hangar 3 site was earmarked for a modern rescue fire centre that would house the newly acquired Rosenbaur Panther fire truck, and future hangar developments. The Hangar 3 removal will start on October 21. Asbestos will be removed from the building first before demolition, and native timbers will be recycled for furniture. “It is expected that construction on the planned new facilities will get underway next year, however, with the challenges brought on by the pandemic we are taking a realistically flexible approach to such timeframes,” Thompson said. www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/126665489/old-hangar-to-be-removed-at-nelson-airport? |
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Post by markrogers on Oct 13, 2021 20:10:30 GMT 12
That's sad. It has always been a landmark at Nelson Airport and I always saw it every time I went past, both by car and plane. So much history, if only that hangar could talk.
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Post by machina on Oct 14, 2021 9:01:06 GMT 12
Typical of this country to treat it’s built history like this.
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Post by McFly on Oct 14, 2021 9:48:44 GMT 12
"Aerial oblique view of RNZAF Station Nelson. - 05/09/1942" (NelG2025a)  "Parade at RNZAF Station, Nelson. - 01/11/1942" (PR338)  "Interior view of the hangar at RNZAF Station Nelson. Aircraft in view are: Oxford, Harvard, the tail of a Kittyhawk and the Messerschmitt Bf109 without wings hanging from the ceiling at the far end. This aircraft, piloted by Wilhelm Erdniss, from 3./JG 51 belly landed on 27 November 1940 at Monks Horton after a dogfight. - Circa WW2" (DWAsst_1)  (Air Force Museum Collection)
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Post by baronbeeza on Oct 14, 2021 10:03:20 GMT 12
The second pic with the flagpole shows a hangar out to the right. That would be the Air Nelson hangar these days.
The terminal moved over to the right out of frame in the late 60's early 70's era, I think it would have been.
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Post by davidd on Oct 14, 2021 11:20:07 GMT 12
One glaring error in the leading article is the repeated insistence that the hangar was built by the RNZAF. Of course the RNZAF was not responsible for building hangars in New Zealand, although their personnel did build a few small ones in the South Pacific (mostly for servicing aircraft at the Base Depot Workshops, Espiritu Santo), and possibly also some small ones in Fiji and Tonga. Generally ALL hangars (and most likely all other buildings) at aerodromes in New Zealand, before and during WW2 (and much the same since WW2) were designed and built by civilian contractors, as were the aerodromes for the most part. The Aerodrome Services Branch of the Public Works Department was heavily involved in aerodrome construction (as were the RNZAF's two Aerodrome Construction Units, or Squadrons) from mid 1930s till end of WW2, with PWD becoming known as the Ministry of Works (MoW) post-war. These Government-owned bodies generally got the sites of aerodromes surveyed and decided on particular designs for buildings and underground installations, sewerage and fresh water supply, electricity and phone line supply, etc, approved the plans provided by the contractors, then supervised the ongoing work through to completion of the various projects. The breakwater built at Lauthala Bay (Fiji) in 1941/42 was built by No. 2 ACU with the assistance of the CCU (Civil Construction Unit), and also help from Fiji's equivalent of our PWD, with quite a fleet of tugs and barges, as well as most of the RNZAF's other airfields in Fiji, including many of the ones required by the Americans (notably the Nandi/Nadi project).
David D
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Post by nuuumannn on Oct 20, 2021 0:00:10 GMT 12
The second pic with the flagpole shows a hangar out to the right. That would be the Air Nelson hangar these days. The terminal moved over to the right out of frame in the late 60's early 70's era, I think it would have been. Well, it was Air Nelson's hangar, Air Nelson is no more now of course. It was built as the RNZAF's Hangar Two, with Hangar One the double arched hangar in the aerial view, which was moved to the Quarantine Road site from the Stoke airport and was the original Cook Strait Airways hangar. The interior pic is also Hangar Two. The building adjacent to the roundabout in the first and second images is the RNZAF main store, which still exists, although not in its original location. It now sits on the opposite side of Hangar Three from Hangar One. Here it is from the road...  DSC_2577 ...And this is where it used to sit, on the concrete pad. At the extreme right is the roundabout on which the flag pole stood. To the extreme left is the engine run bay, with the location of Hangar One and Hangar Three to the back of the photographer.  DSC_2593 Hangar Three from the roadside looking a bit sad.  DSC_2585 The last time it was used for any length of time was in the assembly of the massive wooden framework beams installed in the new terminal, which were assembled in the hangar and transported via the road through the gate to the Air New Zealand site across the tarmac to the terminal site. This took place overnight for several months in 2019 and I watched the building slowly go together whilst working night shift. |
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Post by nuuumannn on Oct 20, 2021 0:09:09 GMT 12
One glaring error in the leading article is the repeated insistence that the hangar was built by the RNZAF. Of course you're right, David. After the erection of Hangar One, the first new-build hangar was Hangar Two, which was constructed of welded steel girders imported from Australia, which are stamped with the initials "BHP", which stands for Broken Hill Proprietary, the Australian steel manufacturing firm, which incidentally was one of the founding companies that funded the creation of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation... |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2021 10:51:04 GMT 12
My understanding is that the hangar that is to be demolished, Hangar Two, was the other half of the Omaka hangar. They were planning to build the whole thing at Nelson for No. 2 Squadron and then it was decided to move the School of General Reconnaissance (originally a Flight of No. 2 Squadron) to Omaka, so the hangar kit was split in half and each airfield got half each. I guess all they needed was two back walls added to the original kit.
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Post by delticman on Oct 20, 2021 11:17:31 GMT 12
My understanding is that the hangar that is to be demolished, Hangar Two, was the other half of the Omaka hangar. They were planning to build the whole thing at Nelson for No. 2 Squadron and then it was decided to move the School of General Reconnaissance (originally a Flight of No. 2 Squadron) to Omaka, so the hangar kit was split in half and each airfield got half each. I guess all they needed was two back walls added to the original kit. The hangar shown as "hangar 3" in the photo is the one used by HNZ for many years. Many years ago I was told that hangar was the other half of the Omaka one. So I'm guessing they would have been the same size at the old Rural one at Bell Block, the James hangar a Hamilton, The big hangar at Tauranga-now gone. The other one I can think of and I'm not sure if it's still there as it's off the airport, the one at Taieri. Also at Taieri there was another half size one that faced the airport, probably where the meat works is now. Back in the early sixties, Central Aviation parked their aircraft in it. |
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Post by nuuumannn on Oct 20, 2021 15:37:16 GMT 12
My understanding is that the hangar that is to be demolished, Hangar Two, was the other half of the Omaka hangar. They were planning to build the whole thing at Nelson for No. 2 Squadron and then it was decided to move the School of General Reconnaissance (originally a Flight of No. 2 Squadron) to Omaka, so the hangar kit was split in half and each airfield got half each. I guess all they needed was two back walls added to the original kit. You're getting your hangars mixed up there, Dave, Hangar Three is the one being demolished, Hangar Two is the old Air Nelson hangar that was built on-site. This is Hangar Two. This is the dark one in the background of the second photo above.  DSC_2596 Evidence of its steel beams' lineage.  DSC_2606 Inside, although it no longer houses Dash 8s anymore as Air New Zealand no longer uses it.  DSC_2607 And a familiar photo.  Bf 109 Hangar 2 |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2021 15:48:22 GMT 12
So was Hangar Two the other half of Omaka's hangar? And it is not being demolished?
But Hangar Three which us coming down was also a Hudson and Vincent hangar?
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Post by nuuumannn on Oct 20, 2021 16:37:50 GMT 12
So was Hangar Two the other half of Omaka's hangar? And it is not being demolished? But Hangar Three which us coming down was also a Hudson and Vincent hangar? No, Hangar Two was built on-site, it was not half of another hangar. It was constructed of beams that came from Australia. Hangar Three is the other half of the Omaka hangar apparently, not something I was aware of. It's smaller than Hangar Two. All three of Nelson's hangars were used by Hudsons and Vincents at one time or another during the war. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 20, 2021 16:40:17 GMT 12
Okay, got it now. Cheers.
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Post by oj on Oct 20, 2021 19:32:41 GMT 12
It is still hard to grasp.
So the DSC_2585 photo of Hangar 3 is a half-hangar compared to the James Aviation hangar size?
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Post by baronbeeza on Oct 20, 2021 20:26:54 GMT 12
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Post by baronbeeza on Oct 20, 2021 20:38:31 GMT 12
And from Sept 1958. Another Whites Aviation pic from the National Library.  |
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Post by nuuumannn on Oct 21, 2021 18:23:06 GMT 12
My understanding is that the hangar that is to be demolished, Hangar Two, was the other half of the Omaka hangar. They were planning to build the whole thing at Nelson for No. 2 Squadron and then it was decided to move the School of General Reconnaissance (originally a Flight of No. 2 Squadron) to Omaka, so the hangar kit was split in half and each airfield got half each. I guess all they needed was two back walls added to the original kit. The hangar shown as "hangar 3" in the photo is the one used by HNZ for many years. Many years ago I was told that hangar was the other half of the Omaka one. So I'm guessing they would have been the same size at the old Rural one at Bell Block, the James hangar a Hamilton, The big hangar at Tauranga-now gone. The other one I can think of and I'm not sure if it's still there as it's off the airport, the one at Taieri. Also at Taieri there was another half size one that faced the airport, probably where the meat works is now. Back in the early sixties, Central Aviation parked their aircraft in it. Delticman and Dave, do you guys have a reference for the theory that Hangar Three was half of a hangar at Omaka? I'm not sure that's actually the case. My understanding is that Hangar three, as with Hangar Two, was built at Nelson and was not half of an existing hangar. |
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Post by delticman on Oct 21, 2021 19:27:01 GMT 12
The hangar shown as "hangar 3" in the photo is the one used by HNZ for many years. Many years ago I was told that hangar was the other half of the Omaka one. So I'm guessing they would have been the same size at the old Rural one at Bell Block, the James hangar a Hamilton, The big hangar at Tauranga-now gone. The other one I can think of and I'm not sure if it's still there as it's off the airport, the one at Taieri. Also at Taieri there was another half size one that faced the airport, probably where the meat works is now. Back in the early sixties, Central Aviation parked their aircraft in it. Delticman and Dave, do you guys have a reference for the theory that Hangar Three was half of a hangar at Omaka? I'm not sure that's actually the case. My understanding is that Hangar three, as with Hangar Two, was built at Nelson and was not half of an existing hangar. I might be out of my depth here. That story was told to be by an older enthusiast who lived in and grew up in Blenheim. Those big RNZAF hangars were probably milled and manufactured somewhere as kit sets for sure. Maybe the Omaka one was the left over bits from the ones at Woodborne. On my many trips to Nelson, I never knew of those hangars by numbers. I'm thinking that if the old AeroClub hangar ( I presume the ex Cook Strait Airways hangar) would be number one, the big wooden hangar (of HNZ) would be number two and the Steel one would be number three as it would have been built later. Steel for hangars in 1940/41 would have been nil. Steel for anywhere would have been nil. Except in Wanganui when the "Port Bowen" was cut up and the steel went into local building work. I guess I'm asking someone that was around Nelson Airport say 1950-1990, where the hangar numbers changed? |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 21, 2021 20:32:57 GMT 12
Correct, they were built as kits by or for the PWD. They were designed also to be movable, and the one that was built at Whenuapai in 1939 did move to Rukuhia in 1942, and then moved back and still stands at Whenuapai now.
If you look at the ones that were erected at places like Whenuapai, Woodbourne, Wigram, Taieri. etc they had a 'standard' length for a service hangar, but they could be made shorter, or in the case of the Nelson one, made into two. My understanding it it was ordered as a full sized hangar for 2 Squadron at Nelson but then the squadron was split and a large number of their men and aircraft moved to Omaka, so half the hangar intended for Nelson went there too. It was not previously built and then cut in half and shifted across as far as I am aware, simply the kit was split in half in the construction stage.
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