RNZAF Waipapakauri

RNZAF Station Waipapakauri

RNZAF Station Waipapakauri was a Royal New Zealand Air Force base located 14 km north of Kaitaia in Northland. It began life in 1933 as a small local aerodrome and was taken over by the RNZAF at the start of World War II in 1939. The New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy also operated a radio intercept and direction-finding station there as part of a nationwide network.

As New Zealand’s most northerly airbase, it was expanded to handle front-line fighters and bombers. Early in the war it served as a maritime patrol base, using aging Vickers Vincent bombers to watch the northern approaches for German surface raiders.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 the base was enlarged further. Permanent buildings were fortified with large bunkers, aircraft revetments, underground command centres and a hospital. The main runway was lengthened and strengthened, and the crosswind runways were extended by culverting a small stream that often flooded. Aircraft based there included Hawker Hind trainers, Vickers Vincent patrol bombers, Curtiss P-40 fighters and Lockheed Hudson bombers. Later in the war Vought F4U Corsairs also operated from the airfield.

Because it was the closest New Zealand base to the Pacific theatre, many Allied transport aircraft — including Douglas C-47 Dakotas from various nations — stopped there to refuel on their way to and from operations.

When the war ended in 1945 the station was closed and its facilities abandoned. Nearby Kaitaia Airport, with its better paved runway, took over as the main airfield for the region.