AIR ARM

Evening Star, Issue 22802, 10 November 1937, Page 3

AIR ARM

DEVELOPMENTS AT NOBSONVILLE [Per United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, November 0. So urgent is the work of extending the accommodation at the Auckland air base at Hobsonvillo that a beginning has been made with the laying of the foundations before the completion of the plans for the design of the new building. It is intended to build new wings and make other additions, .which will provide dormitory, dining hall, bathroom, and workshop facilities for a further 120 Air Force trainees. The present accommodation block, which consists of the central administrative quarters with passageways leading to the wings on the opposite sides, provides for the needs of 50 youths. By lengthening the wings, provision will be made in each section for about 60 additional youths, thus giving total accommodation for 170 trainees. This is part of the development scheme under the Government’s programme to make the air arm the first line of the Dominion’s defence. Although plans for the completed building are still in the formative stage, the main features have been decided and the additions will be in harmony with the present block. There will be recreational rooms, a big common room and library, and well-equipped workshops where youths will have ample opportunity to try their hands at experimental work. The Government hopes that one wing will be completed by the middle of summer and the other during the autumn, and a number of youths who are to undergo a preliminary course of training at Trentham will be drafted to Hobsonvillo immediately the accommodation is ready for them. The cost of the work now in hand and to be completed within six months will be in the vicinity of £25,000.