Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 21, 2008 17:39:00 GMT 12
I was wondering about the services and amenities on wartime RNZAF stations. As some of them were huge with maybe 1000 or more people on a station, and often in remote locations, did they have their own:
- electrity substations
- gasometers
- sewerage plants
- water treatment plants
I assume the Mess kitchens and perhaps heating in some stations too would have used gas? Coal gas was still popular in the 1940's and gasometers were a feature of most towns, running street lights, etc.
I know that many staff were employed by the air force to keep a station running, from full time gardeners to butchers to electricians etc. But I wonder just how self sufficient the bases were on their actual amenities like electricity, gas, water and sewerage. Has anyone ever looked into or recorded this sort of thing?
I recall during the big power crisis of 1992 Wigram's showers were about the only hot ones in Christchurch as the city's ripple control for heating water was switched off at night. But our water was piping hot thanks to self sufficient coal powered boilers.
- electrity substations
- gasometers
- sewerage plants
- water treatment plants
I assume the Mess kitchens and perhaps heating in some stations too would have used gas? Coal gas was still popular in the 1940's and gasometers were a feature of most towns, running street lights, etc.
I know that many staff were employed by the air force to keep a station running, from full time gardeners to butchers to electricians etc. But I wonder just how self sufficient the bases were on their actual amenities like electricity, gas, water and sewerage. Has anyone ever looked into or recorded this sort of thing?
I recall during the big power crisis of 1992 Wigram's showers were about the only hot ones in Christchurch as the city's ripple control for heating water was switched off at night. But our water was piping hot thanks to self sufficient coal powered boilers.
