RNZAF Station Weraroa explained

RNZAF Levin RNZAF Weraroa
Past Commanders:	Wing Commander Ronald Sinclair Air Commodore Trevor White Wing Commander F.R. Dix Wing Commander Arthur Upham
Used:	1939–
Ensign:	Ensign of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.svg
Ensign Size:	90px
Nearest Town:	Levin, Horowhenua District
Country:	New Zealand
Type:	RNZAF Ground Station and Landing Ground
Operator:	Royal New Zealand Air Force

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]

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

Stationed Units

• 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

In 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.

References

1. Web site: Lost Airfields Then & Now RNZAF Levin/Wereroa Wings Over New Zealand. 2021-02-12. rnzaf.proboards.com.
2. Web site: FORMATION OF SCHOOLS NZETC. 2021-02-12. nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.
3. Web site: Wartime RNZAF Stations. 2021-02-12. www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz.
4. Web site: To Have an Ordinary Life - part 1 . RNZ . 2016-12-21 . 2021-10-01.
5. Web site: Stepping into the past: The Kimberley Centre. December 27, 2014. Stuff.
6. Web site: Kimberley Centre – Levin, Horowhenua – Paranormal New Zealand. hauntedauckland.com.