DARTON FIELD HAS BEEN DEVELOPED IN PAST 18 YEARS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22698, 24 July 1948, Page 4

DARTON FIELD HAS BEEN DEVELOPED IN PAST 18 YEARS

gHOULD tlie control of Darton Field pass from the hands of the Gisborne Borough Council and the Cook and Waikohu County Councils, the Government will be acquiring what has often been referred to as one of the best all-weather airfields in the Dominion.

After 18 years of development, Barton Field suffered its severest set-back in the recent flooding, when the receding waters, which in places covered the field to a depth of several feet, left a thick coating of silt However, with the good work being done by the Works Department and given reasonable spring and summer weather, the airfield should be back to its former good state early next year. Following the establishment of the Gisborne and East Coast Aero Club in the late nineteen-twenties, suggestions were made to the three councils concerned that an aerodrome for Gisborne should be developed. Present at that meeting was Major L. M. Xsitt, then acting Director of the R.N.Z.A.F. and later to become Air Vice-Marshal Sir Leonard Isitt. officer commanding the R.N.Z.A.F. He was able to advise the meeting on certain qualities which an airfield should possess.

ways, Limited, the present larger hangar was built and later added to. Darton Field was under lease to Union Airways and since that company was absorbed by National Airways Corporation has been under lease to the corporation. Since its establishment, Darton Field has been used bv many aircraft. Only a short time after being levelled the necessity for an aerodrome at Gisborne was proved when doctors and medical supplies were flown from Gisborne to Napier following the disastrous 1931 earthquake. Several night landings with the aid of large bonfires and motor car headlights were made by aircraft during that period. In 1935 East Coast Airways opened the first regular service between Gisborne and Napier, using twin-engined De Havilland aircraft, later to be superseded by four-engined De Havilland machines. Visits By Post-War Aircraft Continuing the air services after the war Lockheed Electra machines and more recently Lockheed Lodestars, 15passenger aircraft, were used. Many, types of light aircraft used the field prior to the war. while a notable early visitor was Sir Kingsford Smith’s Southern Cross.

Levelled During: Depression In 1930 the three councils raised a loan of £SIOO and bought 99 acres of land, the eastern end of the present aerodrome. Work on the levelling of this area was carried out during two years of depression, giving employment to a large number o' men on a subsidy basis. A good deal of levelling work was necessary, gullies 14ft deep having fo be filled in in places. The work was under the control of Mr. G. E. Darton, engineer to the Gisborne Borough Council from 1930 to 1932 and it was later decided that the field should be named after him. Although officially now the Gisborne aerodrome, the field is still better known to Gisborne people as Darton Field.

During Darton Field’s occupation by the R.N.Z.A.F. practically every tvpe of service aircraft used the field and several new buildings, including a control tower and “blister" hangars on the perimeter of the field were built.

In the last two years, nost-war aircraft, including the Vickers Viking, have found the field large enough to safely land and take-off in, while another notable visitor has been a Meteor jet aircraft.

In 1937. with a regular air service established between Gisborne and Napier, and with the advent of larger aircraft, it was decided that the field should be considerably enlarged and in August of that year a further 139 acres adjoining the "original area was acquired and levelled. When the aerodrome was taken over by the R.N.Z.A.F. in the early years of the war a further small area was acquired and a tar sealed runway extending over the railway line laid down. Used Following Earthquake A small hangar for the use of aero club machines flown from Hawke's Bay was erected in the early 1930'5, but following the establishment of a , regular air service by the Union Ajr-

Promises have been made that stabilised runways will be laid down, and it appears possible that the aircraft carrying Their Majesties, the King and Queen and Princess Margaret will touch down on Darton Field, the new gateway to Gisborne.