AIR BASE SCHOOL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 61, 4 December 1937, Page 6

AIR BASE SCHOOL

Our Own Correspondent.)

Rapid Progress Made

(From

AUCKLAND, Last Night. Progress has been rapid on the construction of the foundations for the new training school and accommodation building at the Hobsonville air base, and it is expected that before Christmas the framework of one of the wings will begin to take shape. The excavations for the basement of the other wing have been cqmpleted and the concreting should be finished before the work is interrupted by- the holidays. "Conditions have been ideal," said one of the officials in charge of the construction this morning. "We are well abreast of our schedule, and the fine weather has enabled the maximum of progress to be made with the men available." There wero 35 men, the majority being carpenters, employed on various paris of the scheme to-day, and it was hoped to increase the number as timber supplies accumulated on the site. The building is designed to triple tho accommodation for Air Force trainees and to make possible an expansion to a total of 170 youths when training operations are in full swing. Besides sleeping quarters there will be commodious dining hall, recreational, workshop, library and bathroom facilities, the building being of two storeys, with attractive views from the upper floor. Construction work was begun a month ago and is expected to occupy about six months. The estimated cost is £25,000. It is the desire of the Government to have one of the wings, providing for the requirements of 60 youths, finished early in the summer, so that recruits who are undergoing preliminary training at Trentham can be drafted to Hobsonville with 'the least possible delay. During the next six to nine months tlie bases will be developed as a repair centre and ground training school undej the Government's air defence programme and will become one of the most important instructional -centres of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.