RNZAF Station Weraroa was a Royal New Zealand Air Force station located southeast of Levin, 44 km southwest of Palmerston North, New Zealand. Originally established on Kimberley Rd in 1935 as a small local airstrip, it was commandeered as an air force base by the RNZAF at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.[1]
| RNZAF Levin RNZAF Weraroa  | |
|---|---|
| Near Levin, Horowhenua District in New Zealand | |
| Coordinates | 40°39′14.4″S 175°16′15.1″E / 40.654000°S 175.270861°E |
| Type | RNZAF Ground Station and Landing Ground |
| Site information | |
| Operator | Royal New Zealand Air Force |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1939 |
| In use | 1939–1944 |
| Garrison information | |
| Past commanders |
|
Weraroa was made up of two distinct sections, namely the airfield on the northern end of the site, along with a ground training station located on the former site of a Government Research Farm.[2]
Airmen knew the place by both names of Levin and Weraroa. Ground radar operators, pilots, and crew were trained there and although uniformed as RNZAF or WAAFs they did not come under Air Force control.
World War II
editStationed Units
edit- Initial Training Wing – conducted basic military training for recruits. This unit was based in Levin from 1939 to February 1942.
- No. 1 (Bomber) Operational Training Unit trained pilots for the Lockheed Hudson reconnaissance and bomber aircraft.
- No. 10 (Bomber) Operational Training Unit – trained pilots for the Lockheed Hudson reconnaissance and bomber aircraft.
- Officers' School of Instruction – This moved back from Omaka to Levin when the South Island base had closed down in April 1944 when sufficient accommodation had become available[3]
Postwar
editIn the late 1940s, the site became the Kimberley Colony for Mental Defectives, later renamed the Kimberley Hospital and Training Centre.[4] It was closed in 2006.[5][6] Little remains of the current site today. The runways have been turned back into farmland, while the Speldhurst Country Estate has largely been developed over the training station. However, as of early 2021, several buildings remain on the East of the site.[citation needed]
References
edit- ^ "Lost Airfields Then & Now RNZAF Levin/Wereroa | Wings Over New Zealand". rnzaf.proboards.com. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- ^ "FORMATION OF SCHOOLS | NZETC". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- ^ "Wartime RNZAF Stations". www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
- ^ "To Have an Ordinary Life - part 1". RNZ. 21 December 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ "Stepping into the past: The Kimberley Centre". Stuff. 27 December 2014.
- ^ "Kimberley Centre – Levin, Horowhenua – Paranormal New Zealand". hauntedauckland.com.