DARTON FIELD REOPENED TODAY FOR RESTRICTED AIRCRAFT SERVICE AFTER REPAIRS OF FLOOD DAMAGE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22820, 15 December 1948, Page 8

DARTON FIELD REOPENED TODAY FOR RESTRICTED AIRCRAFT SERVICE AFTER REPAIRS OF FLOOD DAMAGE

Seven months almost to the day from (he sudden cessation of air services to and from Gisborne, Darton Field aerodrome was reopened today with a restricted National Airways Corporation service operating to north and south. As from Monday next, December 20, the corporation will resume its full scale of operations from the field, with Lodestar aircraft linking Gisborne with other North Island air centres.

Darton Field was declared unserviceable on the afternoon of Thursday, March 13, when aircraft Hying from northern and southern points were turned back to make emergency landings at the nearest serviceable aerodromes.

On that day the district was in the grip of tire worst storm for 40 seasons, torrential rain driving before a wild southerly gale having drenched the whole of Gisborne and the hinterland and surface-water having already tilled every water-course and drain and overflowed on to the highways, over flat lands and on to a considerable area of Dartcn Field. The late edition of the Herald on May 13 carried a flood warning which was all too fully justified by the events of the following day. when the Waipaoa broke its banks and inundated the Gisborne flats to an extent that wiped out practically every land-mark, a great sheet of silt-laden water stretching across the plain from He.xton to Muriwai, with only a comparatively small area in the neighbourhood of the Bushmere road standing clear of the actual flood.

Interruption of Service

On the Thursday morning aircraft left Darton Field for northern and southern termini, but by the afternoon conditions were already too bad in the vicinity of the field to permit of planes landing with any prospect of getting off again safely. North-bound planes trom Palmerston North and Wellington were turned back a few miles from Gisborne and were housed for the night at Napier. Aircraft flying south from Auckland made a circuit over the district and then turned back to Tauranga. Their brief appearances on Thursday, May 13, were to be the last over Gisborne tor seven months; but that fact was not appreciated at the time, for the travelling public was advised on the authority of the National Airways Corporation that Darton Field probably would be re-opened on the following Tuesday! Effects Under-Estimated National Airways Corporation officers were under-estimating the magnitude of the storm effects, but they were not alone in that misapprehension. The flood' which developed within the 2 4 hours from mid-day on that Thursday cost the district dear in stock losses, fencing damage, and crop destruction. In the Cook County alone the damage to public works was estimated at £28,000. Cost of restoration work on the Gisborne aerodrome in the intervening months is not available, but the programme involved the reconstruction of practically the whole surface of the field, including poiughing, levelling and re-sowing. Until the November rains it was doubtful whether Darton Field could be declared serviceable again until the autumn.

Benefits flowing from the resumption of air services, even on the restricted scale which will continue for the next few days, are fully appreciated by the Gisborne public, on whose behalf sustained agitation has been promoted during the past seven months to secure a resumption of services at the earliest possible time. Advantages Recognised

The advantages of services operating through Gisborne are also recognised by people to the north and south, as was indicated by the through bookings on today’s aircraft. The plane scheduled to leave Gisborne at 2.10 p.m. today was fully booked, a majority of the seats being held by through passengers from Napier ‘and Palmerston North; while the aircraft due from Auckland later in the afternoon and scheduled to leave for Napier and Palmerston North at 4.05 p.m. was also well booked up by through travellers from Auckland and Tauranga, only four seats being available for Gisborne passengers joining the plane. Bookings for the rest of the week also are substantial,.