Mighty Hangars Grow

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 47, 25 February 1939, Page 5

Mighty Hangars Grow

Progress at Ohakea

New Zealand is definitely making large strides on the road to putting her air defences in a remarkably strong position for so small a country. Nobody who has paid a visit to the .Royal New Zealand Air Force Station which is being constructed at Ohakea a short distance off the road between Sanson and Bulls and something less than 20 miles from Palmerston North could for a moment .remain in doubt as to the progress that has been made there on the first of the two major operational stations which will be the first line of the aerial defence of the Dominion. The second at Whenuapai, some ten miles from Auckland, has only recently been started. The story of what is happening at Ohakea is well told in the photographs on this page which were taken recently. The huge Vickers Wellington 1 medium bombers which will be the main armament of the station are to be housed in two gigantic hangars made entirely of ferro-epnerete even to the doors. Considerable progress has been made on the building of No. 1 hangar. Picture No. 1 gives a very good impression of the mighty sweep of tho arched roof which at its top point rises 70 feet above the ground. These hangars will give a floor space of 170 ft. by 220 ft. with a door opening 25ft. high. No ordinary building would be of sufficient dimensions to take the Wellingtons and for that reason these are to be the largest of their kind in either Australia or New Zealand. At the bases of the arches which can be seen in the left of the top picture arc annexes for the use of the staff of mechanics and others who will be employed at the aerodrome. The provision of accommodation for the officers and airmen who will form the personnel to be stationed at. the base is a huge task, necessitating the erection of large barracks for the single men ami 32 houses for married officers and non-commissioned officers. Illustration No. 2 shows the two wings of the officers’ barracks with the central portion beginning to take shape. On this will be a clock tower. The building will be sufficiently big to provide quarters for 60 officers. The state of progress of the second hangar is depicted in the third photograph. In this instance the arches have not yet been begun but the walls have been erected and it will not be a great while before this building too begins to assume its full size. Although the first hangar will be completed within about three and flhalf months the second will be somewhat later. Both are of the same proportions and face on to the flying field. An artist’s impression of what the finished hangars will looklike from the ground is given in the fourth picture, which shows the immense size and strength of the whole structure. The concrete doors which will slide into recesses at each side of the front opening provide ample means for the handling of Ihe large aircraft to be housed within. In every respect the buildings give an atmosphere of solidity and permanency. The levelling of the field has been a big contract. In the first place when the land was taken over by the defence authorities from the farmers there were no less than 400 trees standing. These have long since been removed and men driving huge carry-all scrapers have toiled night and day for months to produce a perfect surface over the 490 aeres seen in the fifth illustration taken from the top of the hangar.

Some idea of the weight of the concrete in the roofs of the hangars can be obtained from the sixth picture, which shows portion of the steel falsework supporting the concrete boxing. The five men immediately below the roof are an indication of the size of this frame work.