LEVELS AREA FAVOURED

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVI, Issue 23029, 21 October 1944, Page 4

LEVELS AREA FAVOURED

Airport For South Canterbury Farmers’ Union Discussion The contention that the Timaru air port was unsuitable for use by modern planes and that an alternative site for an aerodrome could be developed in the Levels area was made at a meeting of the South Canterbury executive of the Farmers’ Union yesterday by Mr V. R. Wilson, of the Tiniaru-St. Andrews branch, who claimed that, with two and a half years' practical experience in airfield construction contracts, he felt competent to speak on the subjcet. The discussion arose when a letter was read from the Timaru Borough Council inviting the executive to appoint delegates to a local body conference to discuss the question of an airport for South Canterbury. Proposing that the executive be represented, Mr D. M. France said that Mr V. R. Wilson, of the Timaru-St. Andrews branch, was particularly interested in the subject as he had undertaken construction contracts for the extension and improvement of several R.N.Z.A..F. stations. The secretary (Mr A. B. Struthers) pointed out that, if the conference was not satisfied with the airport at Saltwater Creek and another area was proposed, they would have to go into the question of the cost. Mr Wilson said that, although Saltwater Creek had been suitable at the time of its construction, the development of aviation had been so great that it was now inadequate to meet the requirements of to-day. The commanding officer and the chief flying instructor at one R.N.Z.A.F. station had expressed the opinion that, while the Timaru airport could be used for planes of the Moth type, loaded Oxfords could not take off from there. An Oxford weighed 14,0001 b, a Hudson 22,0001 b and a Flying Fortress 68,0001 b. An Oxford required 1000 yards of runway to lift it and it had to travel another 1000 yards before it was more than 100 feet in the air. Cost of Reconstruction The provision of the required concrete runways at Saltwater Creek and the removal of portion of the hills would involve more than the cost of another site. South Canterbury could have in the Levels area an airport second to none in New Zealand. Climatic conditions were better than those at any other training station in the Dominion because of the prevailing north-easterly winds, which comprised 75 per cent, of the winds in this district. Night flying and radio control would be impossible at Saltwater Creek. In the 500 acre area near the Main North Road in the Levels County runways of the necessary length to cope with all types of planes could be constructed and the other portions leased for agricultural purposes. Another point was that in the event of the Union Airways planes running into bad weather further south, they could return and land on the Levels area, instead of returning to Ashburton as they did now. Mr Wilson produced the plan which the president (Mr S. G. McClelland) had placed before the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. Mr J. Cleland, the representative of the executive on the Chamber, said that he had seen the plan when the subject was introduced by Mr McClelland. He expressed the opinion that the question of how they voted at the- forthcoming conference should be left to the delegates. The president (Mr J. Dempsey). Messrs V. R. Wilson. J. Cleland, and the secretary (Mr A. B. Struthers) were appointed to attend the conference.