GOOD PROGRESS MADE AT WOODBOURNE

Southland Times, Issue 24056, 21 February 1940, Page 7

GOOD PROGRESS MADE AT WOODBOURNE

BETWEEN 300 AND 400 MEN AT AIR STATION (United Press Association) BLENHEIM, February 20. Wing Commander K. L. Caldwell, Officer Commanding the air training school at Woodbourne, stated that there were now between 300 and 400 men at the station. The number would be materially increased before long. Everyone could have the greatest confidence that the training given in New Zealand was such that the men who went overseas would do “a good job of work.”

Since the outbreak of war, said Wing Commander Caldwell, Air Force expansion in New Zealand had been more than 400 per cent., which obviously was “a pretty fair effort.”

There were seven units in the Air Force in New Zealand, starting with the ground training school at Weraroa, at which the trainees spent about a month attending lectures and getting their first experience of discipline, then graduating either to New Plymouth or Taieri. The trainees from New Plymouth would come to Woodbourne for advanced training. Those from Taieri would go to Wigram. At the moment, Woodbourne was not up to the state of Wigram, but it was doing well. Wing Commander Caldwell added that an effort was being made to keep a list of all airmen and pilots who passed through the station, so that their doings could be followed when they went overseas, thus giving the station a permanent record of the men who were trained there.

Organized sports were held at the station and every facility was given for friendly rivalry. The station hoped in future to provide a few football and boxing teams to enter the Marlborough competitions, and already they had a challenge in to Wigram for a swimming contest. Later, it was hoped to enlarge this challenge to football and other sports.