Opening Of Mangere Brings New Era

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30930, 10 December 1965, Page 10

Opening Of Mangere Brings New Era

The recent opening of the Auckland International Airport marked the end of more than 16 years of planning and construction and introduced also a new era of airline operations in Auckland.

The airjxirt, designed by the New Zealand Ministry of Works and the Department of Civil Aviation, is located at the head of the expansive but shallow mudflats of the Manakau Harbour, 13 miles south of Auckland.

With a prevailing south-westerly wind, the airfield is virtually fog free.

Some 250 acres of dairy farm land was added to the site of the old airport and rather than absorb more farm land the airport designers decided to extend the runway into the harbour. Work began in January, 1961, with the moving of 6) million cubic yards of

compacted scoria and rock, and extensive draining to reclaim 160 acres of harbour mudflats.

The brittle volcanic scoria was obtained from a nearby extinct volcano on Pukitutu Island.

A slow-speed taxiway runs parallel to the 8500 ft runway and is connected to it by seven high-speed turnoffs designed to permit aircraft to clear the runway without delay. The runway bearing strengths are capable of taking aircraft with all up weights of 500,0001 b. OVERSEAS LINKS On the international scene there will be scheduled services by Air New Zealand, Canadian Pacific, Pan American, BOAC, and Qantas. These airlines will link New Zealand with Sydney, Melbourne, Fiji, Tahiti, Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver. This is not the first time that this site at Mangere has been a centre of aviation. The Auckland Aero Club had a 234-acre grass field there in its early years, but all evidence of this—except the old control tower which serves meantune as public-look-out—vanished before bulldozer blades which levelled hills from 350 acres of adjoining farmland, swallowed 20 acres of roads and destroyed all evidence of the previous siting of 120 houses and seaside baches. BASE BUILDING The biggest of the build-

ings at the airport « Air New Zealand’s £2 million jet base complex, with 330,000 sq. ft. of floor space just over half a mile from the passenger terminal. The 103,000 sq. ft. hanger houses a fire protection deluge system worth £lOO,OOO —5 per cent of the total cost of the complex. It can drop the equivalent of 24in of rain an hour when touched off by either manual controls or rising temperatures, to “suffocate” an outbreak by blanketing off oxygen. At the same time it will protect adjacent aircraft from danger and the building from structural damage. QUICK ACCESS

The stores are the centre of the complex. It is less than 200 ft to the nearest stores issuing window from any workshop. Grouped under one roof are the light aircraft, airframe, machine, metal, instrument, electrical, radio and hydraulic shops; adjacent buildings house the personnel office, technical training school, medical unit, jet test ceil, the services building with it compressors, boilers, transfionners

and electrical switching gear, and the plating shop. Although efficiency in operation was of prime importance in design, there was also prospects of expansion in the future. The complex was designed with ample space on the north side, where hanger, stores and workshops could be extended.