WIGRAM to Close

[Ian Warren]

The history .. .. another great ... ..whaka Idea .... first the airforce , then the sailplanes , the private aviation , ..... oh we'll keep the hangers for what .. sweatshops ! ...... govt sold rail , airline , and brought them back , time to spend some more money and get this field/aerodrome back and not to a bunch of bloody money swilling idiots .

[spongebob206]

Totally agree.

Wheres the Petition?

[Njbb1995]

What a p!ssass idea why on earth would they want to close down such an inportant piece of NZ aviation history!!!!

[Daniel]

Thats crazy Why close it down?
Will the air force museum stay?
I think the airport will be turning into a retirement village or something. Some of it already has been.

[Yak52aholic]

How silly GRRRRR! I have childhood memories of Wigram, I went on a little train that was setup there and saw my first airforce plane-a C-130. Now It might be a retirement village. What a lot of thought has been put in on this one.

[Anthony]

That sucks.
I guess there's more money in retirement villages than in aviation history.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Daniel @ Jul 9 2008, 07:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats crazy Why close it down?
Will the air force museum stay?
I think the airport will be turning into a retirement village or something. Some of it already has been.

any venue in CHRISTCHURCH for any airshow or show full stop .... 1914-18 , pilot training by the Canterbury Aviation Company of Sockburn , it was later renamed after Sir Henry Wigram in 1923 .. and of course to become the first International Airport in New Zealand with the arrival of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in Sep 1928

[creator2003]

Housing is the idea behind this and of course money for the tribe , safety is another one because they have built up around the airport ,but they don't really take into account the safety of passengers ,the ones that live around the area flying into chch and having to make a emergency landing at Wigram 4 whatever reason . or there air pilot training in the south ,lest of all the history of a airfield thats been there since whenever ,
7 months and its all gone and flash houses start going up that nobody can really afford ,oh don't forget that tagging ,
what use is some tower and hanger going to be in the middle of a housing district ??museum what museum whats the point if you don't care about the history in the first place ...
you guys down there i feel sorry for you the govt again has given something back only to be sold off to some developer or ,, im sure if you guys needed more houses down there there would be more land around like a golf course to develop on ,or like a farm ,expansion of a city is just that not building on things that have already been there nearly a hundred years and is in one part the history of your city ...


shame on the people involved in this bullcrap mess they call development

"I have no problems pointing the finger at the prats involved in this development of Wigram "

[Peppermint]

I think it's fair to say we're all a bit pissed off about it. I'm with Spongebob, where's the petition? Replacing a great piece of history for some homes? Hell, there's PLENTY of space on the outskirts of Christchurch, or more on Banks Peninsula to build houses...why does it have to be Wigram?

I guess these days making money is more important than preserving history, at least to people in high up places who couldn't give a damn what happens, as long as they make a profit out of it. I'm surprised the Government hasn't done anything about it...but they pretty much sold most of our Airforce, wouldn't count on them stepping in on something like this.

If Wigram does get a doing over, will it hold a 'farewell' airshow? I hope it does.... And find out where the office is of the people who finalised a stupid deal to get rid of Wigram, flypast there and give them a buzzing...or get that A-37 (Strikemaster look a like, forgot the name now) to go past full speed and shatter some windows.

I can understand they need more houses, but I really can't understand WHY it has to be right smack in the middle of Wigram...I remember a couple of years ago I was there, driving around near the south side (sort of) of Wigram, there was PLENTY of empty field there for subdivisions...


Oh look, plenty of spare space with MORE room than what the area of Wigram has to offer, so why Wigram?

[Naki]

& & & & & &

[Alex]

QUOTE (Naki @ Jul 9 2008, 08:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

& & & & & &

What he said...

Alex

[Daniel]

Nice finding Peppermint.
Exactly! Pleanty more space in those other areas.

[spongebob206]

Lets do it, ley's make a stand.

Might not end up as we wish, but at least we gave it a try.

What do you all think?

[Anthony]

You can put a subdivision anywhere - especially with the ridiculously small sizes of sections.
A subdivision went in by my house a couple of years ago. Over 50 houses in it, and the piece of land they used wasn't very big.
All of those houses have literally no section, I swear there isn't a section there bigger than 300m2, but they're worth an absolute ton of money.

Look at what Peppermint posted - there's plenty of space for housing that isn't the airport.

Now's a bit of a silly time to look at housing developments anyway.
No one's got much money and the banks aren't keen to lend from what I've been told by bankers from ANZ National.
House market is falling and prices are going down too.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (creator2003 @ Jul 9 2008, 07:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

museum what museum whats the point if you don't care about the history in the first place ...

Exactly ... Safety is not the issue but excuse here , public pooh pushing for the idiots ... the 'Tribe' getting a little money hungry , .... still an active aerodrome 10 years back and knowing it people buy property .... then complain about noise , I wonder , i did this at the Auckland War Memorial ! .

[Daniel]

I was down at Wigram a few weekends ago and the tour guide thought that it would close in about 2010.
Is there any purpose of the airfield still being there operationaly? Pionair moved to CHC international.
Is there much G/A activity? Can CHC International facilitate all the companies and aircraft if Wigram got closed?

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (spongebob206 @ Jul 9 2008, 08:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lets do it, ley's make a stand.

Might not end up as we wish, but at least we gave it a try.

What do you all think?

Yeah ... I'm in !

[Anthony]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jul 9 2008, 08:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly ... Safety is not the issue but excuse here , public pooh pushing for the idiots ... the 'Tribe' getting a little money hungry , .... still an active aerodrome 10 years back and knowing it people buy property .... then complain about noise , I wonder , i did this at the Auckland War Memorial ! .

Ah yes, the NIMBYs.
"I just flew into the airport, bought the house next door, and now I'm going to complain about the noise".
Have to agree with your other points too Ian mate.

I would support a petition as well.

Regardless of whether Christchurch still needs Wigram, it's an important part of NZ history.
There might not be much commercial point in keeping it, but I don't see the point in getting rid of it anyway.

[Ian Warren]

Its also used as an aviation park for the local model aircraft peoples ... the whole identity ...ITS WIGRAM!

[Kelburn]

Ohh well.
If it happens it happens