Whenuapai

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Whileuapai is a suburban and airfield in the west Waitakere area of Auckland, on the North Island of New Zealand. Situated on the north-west bank of the port of Waitemat?, 15 kilometers north-west of the center of Auckland. Whenuapai was built in 1937 as a basis for Wellington bombers.

After the Second World War, Auckland became a center for RNZAF transportation and naval wing. Between 1945-1965 Whenuapai was also the civilian internatonal airfield of Auckland. The RNZAF base in Auckland was established in 1965 whenuapai and Hobsonville. Now Hobsonville is shut down and RNZAF continues to rent some of the rest of the property.

Today, with a staff of about 1100, Base Auckland is the home of the company: The RNZAF Fallschirm Training und Support Unit, RNZAF Force Protection Dog Training School, RNZAF Aviation Medicine Unit. The RNZAF station in Whenuapai was temporarily made available to civilian air traffic by the RNZAF in 1945.

This" temporal base" took twenty years and the RNZAF had to abandon its two smaller hanger and move to the northern forecourt of its own aiport. During the 1940s Whenuapai was one of three airfields in the land with airstrips closed, the others were Paraparaumu and Ohakea. Auckland had three airfields for a brief period - the seaport in Mechanics Bay, where TEAL was operating from 1940-54; the city's internal hub - at the then small grassy field in Mangere, on the site of today's Auckland International Auckland; and Pan American and British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (originally run by Australian National Airways) with DC-4s from Whenuapai.

Immediately after the conflict; the RNZAF ran many of the public service while the NAC was organized, and to further intensify the chaos; some of Auckland's home affairs ministries also left Whenuapai. NAC flown one DC-3 aweek on a weekly basis from Whenuapai to Norfolk Island and a biweekly flight on a week-long trip from Whenuapai-Norfolk Iceland-Nadi-Apia-Tongatapu-Aitutaki-Rarotonga inbound and outbound.

Norfolk Island services lasted until 1955, when Qantas, charters with TEAAL, took over the line with a DC-4 and the Pacific services were transferred to TEAAL in 1952. Whenuapai' s next big move was in May 1954, when British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines was dissolved, its DC-6 was transferred to TEAAL and that company was selling all but two of its airboats and moving to Whenuapai.

He held one Solent in standby and sent the other to Suva to take the flight to Tahiti, which was not given a rural airfield until 1960. Then the first part of the Coral Route was driven with the DC-6 from Whenuapai to Nadi. In spite of airstrip issues, Whenuapai remained Auckland's main hub until the 1950'.

The longest take-off and landing strip in 1960 was 6590ÓF ('6664F a few years later), which enabled BOAC Comet to fly, but bigger jets like the DC-8 and B707 required a new global airfield and work began at Auckland Airfield. On the 24th November 1965, the first official opening of the plane from Auckland Airfield took place on the anniversary weekend (29th-31st January 1966), after which Whenuapai Airfield returned to pure miltary use.

Since QANTAS until 1961 was half the owner of PDAL; previously, the plane only arrived in Whenuapai when it was charters by PDAL, or when it was charters for a voyage to New Zealand, although it did sometimes appear between 1956-61 in Whenuapai with its Super Constellations at rush hours.