Ardmore Airport is an airport 3

nautical miles A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today t ...

(5.5 km) southeast of

Manurewa Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau, Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The subur ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

History

Ardmore was constructed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

forces stationed in Auckland and was intended to be used as a base for

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

bombers. Due to developments in the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

it was never used for this purpose but was instead was used by the

RNZAF The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...

, who operated

Corsair A corsair is a privateer or pirate, especially: * Barbary corsair, Ottoman and Berber pirates and privateers operating from North Africa * French corsairs, privateers operating on behalf of the French crown Corsair may also refer to: Arts and ...

fighters. RNZAF Auckland operations were consolidated at

Whenuapai Whenuapai is a suburb and aerodrome located in northwestern Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the northwestern shore of the Waitematā Harbour, 15 kilometres to the northwest of Auckland's city centre. It is one of th ...

after World War II. From the post-war years until the mid-1970s the grounds were home to a teacher training unit and the

Auckland University The University of Auckland is a public university, public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest, most comprehensive and highest-ranked university in New Zealand and consistently places among the top 100 universit ...

School of Engineering.

New Zealand Grand Prix

From 1954 until 1962 the

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

was home to the

New Zealand Grand Prix The New Zealand Grand Prix, sometimes known as the New Zealand International Grand Prix, is an annual motor racing event held in New Zealand. First held in 1950, it is best known for hosting rounds of the Tasman Series in the 1960s and 1970s. It ...

with the circuit being approximately in length and utilising the two sealed runways operational at the time. In 1954 and 1955, about 70,000 spectators attended the event. Local authorities made the decision to open the facility to

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

and the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

was moved to

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. Th ...

upon completion of a purpose built facility there.

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

Ken Wharton Frederick Charles Kenneth Wharton (21 March 1916 – 12 January 1957) was a British racing driver from Smethwick, England. He competed in off-road trials, hillclimbs, and rallying, and also raced sports cars and single-seaters. He began racing ...

was killed at the NZ Grand Prix at Ardmore on 12 January 1957 when he crashed his

Ferrari Monza The Ferrari Monza is one of a series of cars built by Ferrari. In the early 1950s, Ferrari shifted from using the compact Gioacchino Colombo-designed V12 engine in its smallest class of sports racers to a line of four-cylinder engines designed b ...

Present day

Ardmore Airport is one of New Zealand's busiest general aviation

airfields An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publi ...

. Traffic mainly consists of small private

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

and the classic aircraft of the New Zealand Warbirds Association, which is based there. Businesses in the airfield include several

flying school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

s, maintenance, fuel and aircraft restoration. Buildings are situated around

aprons An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...

to the north, west, south and southeast. A

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

remains in the centre of the field but this is no longer used for air traffic control. It is now used as a

UNICOM A UNICOM (universal communications) station is an air-ground communication facility operated by a non-air traffic control private agency to provide advisory service at uncontrolled aerodromes and airports and to provide various non-flight services ...

service.

Operational information

Ardmore has six vectors: 03/21 sealed runway, 03/21 grass runway and 07/25 grass runway. There used to be a 07/25 sealed runway but this is no longer used and is now a taxiway (Taxiway Juliet). The airfield has a circuit height of for

fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...

, for

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s. The circuit for runways 03 and 07 is right-hand while that for runways 21 and 25 is left-hand. The airfield is serviced by two R-NAV (GPS) arrivals, one for each runway (03 and 21). The airport itself is uncontrolled and located within a ''Mandatory Broadcast Zone'' (MBZ). This airspace is monitored by the Ardmore Unicom service who operate during daylight hours. The aerodrome is located to the south east of

Auckland International Airport Auckland Airport is the largest and List of the busiest airports in New Zealand, busiest airport in New Zealand, with over 21 million passengers in the year ended March 2019. The airport is located near Māngere, a residential suburb, and Airp ...

airspace.

Airlines and destinations

Accidents and incidents

Accidents and incidents that occurred at or near Ardmore Airport include: * 21 November 1944 - A

based at Ardmore attempted a forced landing and crashed 1/2 a mile from the aerodrome. Fg Off D.G.A. Ritchie later died of injuries. * 6 March 1945 - A Corsair turned onto its back while coming in to land. Flt Sgt J.W. Wright was injured. * 3 December 2009 - A restored

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

tipped onto its nose while landing, damaging the propeller and undercarriage. * 27 September 2010 - A helicopter with two people on board was reported (by

TV3 News Virgin Media News (formerly TV3 News and then 3News Ireland) is the news division of Virgin Media Television in Ireland, owned by Liberty Global. The news division produces news and current affairs programming for free-to-air channels Virgin ...

) to have crashed. The aircraft reported a technical problem. A witness said the helicopter circled the aerodrome using up fuel and then the engine was cut and it glided in to land safely. * 4 January 2014 - A

Barber Snark The Barber Snark is a two-seater kit-plane, designed and built in New Zealand by Bill Barber. It first flew in late 1987. Only some five aircraft have been built. Design and development The Snark is a tricycle aircraft of composite cons ...

(ZK-JEK) landed and vacated the runway before catching fire. Both occupants escaped without injury. *6 March 2014 - A light twin

Beechcraft Duchess The Beechcraft Model 76 Duchess is an American twin-engined monoplane built by Beechcraft intended partly as a low cost introduction to twin-engine aircraft. Development Developed as Model PD289 (Preliminary Design 289), the prototype was u ...

suffered an undercarriage failure on the runway at Ardmore. *29 June 2014 - A light aircraft,

Cessna 152 The Cessna 152 is an American two-seat, fixed- tricycle-gear, general aviation airplane, used primarily for flight training and personal use. It was based on the earlier Cessna 150 incorporating a number of minor design changes and a slightly ...

, had to make an emergency landing in a field approx. 3NM East of the airfield. The aircraft made a successful landing in the field before flipping upside down. *28 September 2016 - A T-28 Trojan successfully made a belly landing after its landing gear failed.

References

External links

Ardmore Aerodrome's Website

Ardmore (NZAR) Airport Information Chart
{{authority control Airports in New Zealand Transport in Auckland Buildings and structures in the Auckland Region Motorsport venues in New Zealand New Zealand Grand Prix 1943 establishments in New Zealand Transport buildings and structures in the Auckland Region