BLENHEIM

BLENHEIM Perfectly-placed farm used for defence purposes during WW2

A hangar (centre building) saved at the end of WW2, now used for farm purposes.

While New Zealand had numerous air training bases throughout the country at the start of WW2, Marlborough can lay claim to a historic farm adjacent to the Woodbourne Air Force Base in Blenheim becoming a very strategic focus for Royal New Zealand Air Force training purposes.

WORDS: Robyn Burgess and David Watt IMAGES: John Walsh collection

This year sees the Royal New Zealand Air Force celebrate 85 years of service, providing the opportunity to glance back at those early locations where they first established their new-found existence.

Category 1 heritage listed Woodbourne Homestead and Historic Farm, on New Renwick Road in rural Blenheim, not only tells stories of early Pākeha settler history in Marlborough from the 1840s, but has also been associated with aviation in New Zealand since the 1920s, particularly with the establishment of a satellite air training and defence station at the start of WW2.

In the 1920s, the Marlborough Aero Club, the first such flying club formed in New Zealand, started using part of the property as a flying field, and in October 1928 Charles Kingsford ‘Smithy’ Smith, watched by a large excited crowd gathered at the farm, got airborne for his return trip to Australia from New Zealand in the Southern Cross. This was the first flight from our shores to Australia.

Kingsford Smith required a particularly long runway for his aircraft, so fences were removed between paddocks to allow more than 200 acres for take-off purposes. His flight from Woodbourne to Sydney took an incredible 22 hours 51 minutes, becoming a landmark moment in New Zealand aviation history. Three families have been involved with Woodbourne Farm since the 1840s — beginning with the Godfrey family up to 1907, the Fairhall family from 1907 to 1946, and the present owners, the Walsh family. In 1939, the New Zealand Government leased the farm property from the Fairhalls to create a satellite air training and defence station. With the Japanese moving quickly to occupy the Philippines and Singapore, providing them with the opportunity to attack Australia from these vantage points, there was the very real threat that New Zealand would be the next target. In the area at the far north and northeast of the Fairhall property some 300 acres were established as RNZAF Base Woodbourne, a permanent military base that remains to the present day. The rest of the farm land was also occupied as a satellite Air Force training station for the war. Fairhall Base, as it was named, was first occupied by a newly established 16 Fighter Squadron, which had P40 Kittyhawk fighter-bombers and some armed up

Harvards to bring the squadron up to full strength. In the event of an attack on Wellington, the Kittyhawks could be scrambled to defend the capital in 16 minutes. Beween August 1942 and June 1943 RNZAF Fighter Squadrons 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 were all based around the Woodbourne Farm Homestead and Historic Farm.

During their time at the farm station, pilot officers lived in the timber homestead and it was used as an officers mess between 1942 and 1943. It was reported that the house saw an intense period of social activity in down time for the pilots, resulting in considerable wear and tear. Other pilots lived in huts in the tree plantation area called ‘the forest’ as it provided natural camouflage. The New Zealand fighter squadrons from the Fairhall Base built a proud record of achievement in their Pacific operations, and their Kittyhawks were recognised as being particularly successful.

Nissen hangars, or ‘pens’ as they were known, were built for the Kittyhawks and other aircraft around the farm, three of them being erected on or near the site of the original six-roomed cob homestead. A temporary dining hall and a separate concrete safe were constructed to the east of the timber homestead in the forest area beside Mill Stream. Remnants of these survive today. While some of the existing farm buildings were used by the Air Force, there were some that were altered for operational purposes. It appears that the original cob homestead built by Godfrey was flattened to make way for an aircraft maintenance hangar. The original miller’s house on the farm, constructed of timber possibly in the 1860s, was also demolished by the Air Force. While 14 of the original 15 Nissen hangars were demolished at the end of the war, one was allowed to remain and survives to this day as one of only four in New Zealand remaining in situ. Two hangars are at Ardmore Aerodrome in South Auckland and one, currently in a damaged state, is at Ashburton Aerodrome. By the time Mahon Walsh purchased Wodbourne Farm in 1946, the New Zealand Defence Department had either removed most of the miltary buildings or was in the process of doing so. Mahon was eager to purchase and retain one of the Nissen hangars and this is located west of the stables on the property. Mahon’s son, John, the present owner, has lived his entire life on Woodbourne Farm. John and his wife, Lynne, became pioneer deer farmers and in the late 1970s they planted their first grape vines at Woodbourne, with viticulture becoming a significant trend in Marlborough at the time. Today, it is a major New Zealand industry. Over the years, there have been numerous changes to the structures on the Woodbourne Farm. John has a wonderful collection of farm vintage machinery and photographic records of early farm life and the military occupation. He has worked in close consultation with staff in Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga to record the property’s history. “This has been a wonderful place to live, seeing early farming achievements, and where many of the Air Force buildings stood when the RNZAF was in training for the war. Woodbourne Farm has been important place in the history of our nation,” says John. n

Top: Aerial view of Woodbourne satellite airfield with planes and hangars. Below: Hundreds crowd around the Southern Cross at Woodbourne Farm in 1928. Below left: Pilots outside their officers mess/homestead during training for the war.