Whenuapai

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Whenuapai is located in Waitakere city, one of the cities which make up the conurbation of Auckland, in the northern North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Waitemata Harbour, 15 kilometres to the northwest of Auckland's city centre. The name is Maori for good land.

Contents 1 RNZAF facilities 2 Whenuapai Airport 1945–65 3 Whenuapai Airport in the 2000s 4 References 5 External links

[edit] RNZAF facilities

Main article: RNZAF Base Auckland

Construction of Whenuapai as a base for Wellington bomber aircraft began in 1937.

Post World War II Auckland became a centre for RNZAF transport and maritime squadrons. From 1945-1965 Whenuapai was also Auckland's civil international airport. Whenuapai and Hobsonville bases were integrated in 1965 to form RNZAF Base Auckland. Hobsonville is currently undergoing closure.

Today, with a personnel strength of around 1100, Base Auckland is the home for:

• No. 5 Squadron (P-3K Orion)
• No. 6 Squadron (SH-2G(NZ) Seasprite)
• No. 40 Squadron (C-130 Hercules and Boeing 757)
• RNZAF Parachute Training and Support Unit,
• RNZAF Police Dog Training School,
• RNZAF Aviation Medicine Unit.

[edit] Whenuapai Airport 1945–65

In 1945 the government made the RNZAF Station at Whenuapai available for civil airline operations on a temporary basis and with RNZAF activities to take precedence. That "temporary basis" lasted twenty years and the RNZAF had to give up their two smaller hangars and move to the north apron of their own airfield. As it happened, Whenuapai, along with Paraparaumu and Ohakea was one of the only three aerodromes in the country with sealed runways in the 1940s.

For a short time, Auckland had three aerodromes—the seaplane aerodrome at Mechanics Bay where TEAL operated from 1940–54; the city's domestic airport—at the then small grass airstrip at Mangere, on the site of the present Auckland International Airport; and weekly Pan American and British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (the latter's services originally operated by Australian National Airways) services with DC-4s from Whenuapai. Also immediately post-war; the RNZAF operated many of the civil services while NAC was being organised, and to add to the confusion; some of Auckland's domestic services departed from Whenuapai as well.

In 1947, the government closed Mangere to all but light aircraft citing safety concerns, and NAC was forced to move to Whenuapai. (At the same time, the government closed Wellington's Rongotai Airport, for the same reasons, and NAC had to move to Paraparaumu, 35 miles from the city.)

In addition to domestic services, NAC flew a DC-3 weekly to Norfolk Island from Whenuapai, and fortnightly on a route that took a week each way; Whenuapai—Norfolk Island—Nadi—Apia—[[Fuaʻamotu International Airport|Tongatapu]]—Aitutaki—Rarotonga. The Norfolk Island service continued until 1955 when Qantas, chartered to TEAL, took over the route with a DC-4; and the Pacific Service was handed over to TEAL in 1952.

The next major development at Whenuapai was in May 1954, when British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines was wound up, its DC-6s given to TEAL, and that airline sold all, except two, of its flying boats and moved to Whenuapai. It kept one Solent in reserve; and sent the other to Suva. The first part of the Coral Route was then operated by DC-6 from Whenuapai to Nadi.

Whenuapai's runways were made of intersecting hexagonal concrete blocks. It was built on top of a 120ft thick bog—being the cheapest area of reasonably flat land of the size required that was close to Auckland—when a site to defend the city was selected in 1938 and construction of the airfield began. Even Tiger Moths began to rip up the ground and a concrete runway was authorised by the government in 1942. By the 1950s blocks here and there all over the airfield, but particularly on the aprons and runway touchdown zones, were sinking into the bog and the Ministry of Works was continually at work simply trying to keep the place running.

But run it did and, until the end of the 1950s, whatever the newspapers of the time said—and they said a lot; refer "Auckland Municipal Airport Files 1944–58" held at the Auckland City Archives—Whenuapai continued to be reasonably adequate through the 1950s, particularly when a new terminal was opened in 1956. The Auckland Star and The New Zealand Herald proudly pointed out that Whenuapai was now able to cope with TWO international departures—AT THE SAME TIME. (Emphasis quoted from said newspapers, June 1956.)

Turboprops arrived at Whenuapai in 1958—internationally with Canadian Pacific Airlines' Bristol Britannias, and domestically with NAC's Vickers Viscounts. And in late 1959 TEAL re-equipped with Electras, calling them Aotearoa, Atarau, and Akaroa. There was same-plane service to Paris with Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux and to Amsterdam with Canadian Pacific Airlines. The opening of the Northwestern Motorway from Point Chevalier to a road junction only two miles from Whenuapai also made access much easier.

But by 1960 Whenuapai's heyday was coming to a close due to its runways being too short and too weak for the DC-8 and the B707. New Zealand fell off the world's air routes and was relegated to having a shuttle service to Sydney and Nadi and connect with jet services there. It was also becoming busier and busier, although it was small by international standards; trying to cram around 45 flights a day, at a time when 7–9 domestic and 3 international aircraft were overnighting at the airport made it cramped and crowded. Whenuapai was just managing in the 1950s to park everyone, but when SPANZ parked their two DC-3s there overnight in the 1960s, it tipped the balance.

Originally the airport had eight gates but near the end of its life aircraft were parked all over the tarmac, and DC-3s had to be parked on the grass beyond the TEAL hangar.

Meanwhile, battles between the government, the city of Auckland and the 3 counties and 18 boroughs of the Auckland Metropolitan Area on where Auckland's badly needed new airport should be, and worse, who was going to pay for it, continued throughout the time Whenuapai functioned as Auckland Airport. A site was finally selected in November 1955; but when the price doubled from 4 million to 8 million pounds the situation rapidly deteriorated. This was because the new jets needed a much longer runway than was originally envisaged, and the runway then needed to be extended much further out into the Manukau Harbour than originally thought. The government argued Auckland's various local authorities should pay 50:50 with it—some boroughs agreed, others said that the new airport was of national significance so Auckland should not have to pay as much. In the end, the government offered to pay seven million; but some of the boroughs still refused to pay their share of the remaining million pounds. In utter disgust, the Auckland City Council handed over the entire million to the government, and construction began on the present Auckland International Airport in October 1960. Most of the boroughs then reimbursed the city. (Today the same area has four local authorities, instead of 22).

Whenuapai continued to get busier and busier throughout the first half of the 1960s as the general prosperity world-wide and lowering in the cost of airfares allowed more people to travel, both nationally, and abroad. Tourism also began to be important around this time.

Whenuapai was even called a "delinquent airport" by the Auckland Star in 1962; but it saw its share of pomp and pageantry—such as the Presentation of the Queens Colour in 1953, the riot of fans who were there to welcome Nat King Cole in 1955, the protest of 1960 when the All Blacks were not allowed to take Maori players to South Africa, and the spectacular crash of TEAL's Electra Akaroa while on a training flight in March 1965. As it got to its busiest, and gate allocations became more and more problematic; relief finally came when Mangere opened somewhat behind schedule 24th November 1965. The day before was the last day of civil operations at Whenuapai, and overnight all the aircraft and most of the equipment was moved down to Mangere.

Airlines of Whenuapai (Chronological Order):

Royal New Zealand Air Force (Civil Operations) 1945–47
Pan American World Airways 1946–65
British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) 1947–53
New Zealand National Airways Corporation (NAC) 1947–65
Canadian Pacific Airlines 1952–65
Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL) 1954–65
Transports Aeriens Intercontinentaux (TAI) 1957–63
South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand (SPANZ) 1960–65
Qantas Empire Airways (QANTAS) 1961–65†
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) 1963–65

† This was as scheduled operations on its own account. As QANTAS owned half of TEAL until 1961; before then its aircraft only appeared at Whenuapai if chartered by TEAL, or if its aircraft were chartered for a trip across to New Zealand, although it did occasionally appear at Whenuapai between 1956–61 with its Super Constellations at peak traffic times.

Sources for the above newspaper clippings:

The Auckland Scrapbook, Auckland City Library (microfiche) The New Zealand Scrapbook, Auckland City Library (microfiche) Auckland Municipal Airport Files, Auckland City Council Archives

[edit] Whenuapai Airport in the 2000s

Whenuapai Airport is located on 300 hectares of more or less flat land, is ideally located in the northwest of the Auckland Region and is now very lightly used by the Air Force and scheduled for closure by the New Zealand government by 2010 or, at latest, 2014. More people in the Auckland region already live closer to this airport than live closer to Mangere Airport (which is the operated by a private company known as Auckland International Airport Limited). In 15 years, or less, Whenuapai will be the closest airport for more than a million Aucklanders.^[1]

Rodney District Council, North Shore City and Waitakere City, the three local authorities that comprise the north west sector of the Auckland Region, have established North West Auckland Airport Limited in partnership with infrastructure investment company and airport owner Infratil. The three Councils of the North West believe a commercial airport at [Whenuapai] has an important role to play in helping transform the economy of the northwest sector and, in turn, the Auckland region.

Between October and December 2005 the North West Councils undertook a major consultation exercise with their business communities. One of the messages that came from that was how important Whenuapai is to business. Waitakere City Council, North Shore City Council, and Rodney District Council "Lets Get Down to Business: Business Futures for the Northern and Western Sectors, March 2006".

In August and September 2006 Waitakere commissioned a professional market research company to undertake a poll of the Auckland Region. This showed that far more residents in the Auckland Region supported the concept of commercial operations at Whenuapai than were opposed to the concept (77% support, 22% opposition) and overwhelming support in the North West. This confirms the outcome of professional research in 2004.^[2]

The Auckland Region is disadvantaged by having only one commercial airport, which is to the south of the region. This can be very difficult to access, particularly during peak travel periods, when northwest residents have to drive through the congested isthmus to reach the airport. A journey that, for some residents, can take more than two hours.

It can be equally difficult for visitors, going to the northwest, from overseas and elsewhere in New Zealand to access the northwest. By 2015 it is estimated that there will be 155,000 vehicle trips to Mangere Airport every day. Sixty-two thousand of which will be from the northwest. The majority of this growth in vehicle trips will result from proposed commercial property development at Mangere Airport. It will cost over $3 billion dollars to cater for this traffic to the privately owned Mangere Airport.^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• RNZAF Parachute Training and Support Unit
• RNZAF Aviation Medicine Unit

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