Soil Cement Work On Taupo Airport Now Completed

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 37, 13 May 1965, Page 1

Soil Cement Work On Taupo Airport Now Completed

Soil-cement stabilisation work on Taupo's new airport — to full Fokker Friendship standards — has been completed. Work has now begun on the sealing of the complete runwag length and is to be finished early next week. Contractors and Taupo Borough engineers worked through the whole of last weekend to complete the stabilisation work by 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

Meanwhile the sealing work was progressing and on Tuesday, the original length of 1900 feet was given its second coat seal. Yesterday, a furr ther 2100 feet received its first coat seal and the balance will be done tomorrow and Saturday,' after which second coat sealing will be done. "Everyone - is very elated," the chairman of the airport committee, Cr D. D. Davis, said yesterday afternoon. -

The completion of the work came almost "out of the blue" after dire predictions that, with the bad weather ' experienced the week after Easter, the airport would not open until next September. Now, a special meeting of the airport committee is to hear from the contractors on Friday and an opening date for operational flights will be set. It is not expected that this will be more than two or three weeks away.

Plans and specifications for the terminal building will be out this week and it is expected that this work will be completed around September or October of this year. A temporary building will be used for a terminal in the. meantime. Although Spanz has the only licence to operate from the Wharewaka airport, the runway is quite eapable of taking Friendships and Bristol Freighters and it is hoped that charter and freight flights will be made into the new airport. There have already been a number of inquiries from operators who wish to use the runway for topdressing DC3 flights and Mr Davis says there is ample roora round the airport for eommercial buildings of all kinds. Reviewing the completion of the stabilisation work, Mr Davis said that the committee had had a bad time toward the latter stages. Not only did the weather conspire against the completion of the work, but there were also difficulties over supplies of cement. Fortunately, the Ministry of Works had been able to help with 45 tons in two lots and the firm of Winstone's Ltd. had been able to bring cement from Wanganui. Before the airport can be declared operational a radio beacon has to be installed, wind socks erected and the marker strips painted on the runway. After this MoW tests the runway fof bearing strengths.