Marlborough integral to development of NZ aviation

As Marlborough celebrates its 150th anniversary in November this year, The Marlborough Express remembers and celebrates our history by publishing a series of stories from the recently launched website www.theprow.org.nz

With its clear skies, wide, open valleys and central New Zealand location, Marlborough has been a significant aviation centre for nearly 90 years. Imagine the excitement in August, 1920 when Captain Euan Dickson touched down in his Avro 504K, D6243 on a Dillon's Point (Blenheim) farm. He was en route from Christchurch to Wellington the first flight across the Cook Strait. On his return, Dickson carried mail with the words "Aerial Post" stamped on the envelopes New Zealand's first airmail.

The Marlborough Express of September 4, 1920 described Dickson's return to Christchurch: "The machine rose gracefully, circled once over the heads of the spectators, and then like a homing pigeon sailed swiftly off over the Vernon Hills."

When Charles Kingsford Smith made the first trans-Tasman flight from Sydney to Christchurch in the Southern Cross on September 11, 1928, Marlborough's new aero club encouraged him to use a Woodbourne paddock for the historic return flight. Preparations to turn the field into an aerodrome included building a large, temporary hangar.

About 12,000 people (including folk from Nelson and Wellington) came to see the flying heroes. The Southern Cross came into view as a tiny speck high in the sky and flew over the cheering crowd, dropping "lightly to earth fair in the runway, one of the most perfect landings ever made."

Interest in flight was intense in the 1920s. To foster and maintain a reserve of flying skills that could be called on for military service, the Government began to support aero clubs. In 1929, the Marlborough Aero Club was loaned one of the first Gypsy Moth aircraft by the Government, and flying operations began.

When the Second World War broke out in 1939, aero club facilities at Omaka were taken over by the Royal New Zealand Airforce. Work also began on building an RNZAF base at Woodbourne.

With the attack on Pearl Harbour and fears that New Zealand might be invaded by the Japanese, Marlborough was regarded as being strategically important. In June 1943, the Airforce moved into the Delta Military Camp. Five Delta camps and an airfield covered 1003 acres of farmland near Renwick.

When the war ended, the Delta Camp was wound up and the base at Woodbourne virtually shut down. However in 1949, the Airforce's No 1 Repair Depot was moved to Woodbourne and has been there ever since.

The bull-nosed Bristol Freighters, later joined by the equally lumbering Argosy 222, provided an important cargo air-bridge around New Zealand and to the Chatham Islands. They were operated by Blenheim-based Safe Air, registered as Straits Air Freight Express Ltd in 1950.

In 1990, Safe Air (a subsidiary of Air New Zealand) stopped flying operations and began to build a maintenance company of international repute. They gained the RNZAF contract to manage the Air Force's heavy maintenance facilities at RNZAF Woodbourne in 1998, which they continue to manage.

Today, the RNZAF Base Woodbourne has the Air Force's only heavy maintenance facility and support base in New Zealand. Marlborough's reputation as an aviation centre has continued to grow with the development of the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, Wings over Omaka air pageants and the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology's (NMIT) School of Aviation.

This story was written by Joy Stephens for www.theprow.org.nz. Check out the website for an extensive list of further resources relating to Marlborough's aviation history, or for more historical stories from o te tau ihu- the top of the South.

The Prow: nga korero o te tau ihu, features historical and cultural stories from the Marlborough, Tasman and Nelson regions. Each story featured on the website also includes cross references, photographs and maps. Detailed bibliographies, prepared by a team of local librarians, feature many other resources and links to online resources. The project is a collaborative venture between the Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough Libraries, The Nelson Provincial Museum and NMIT, with input from other top of the South museums.

- The Marlborough Express