RNZAF Station Weraroa
{{Short description|Royal New Zealand Air Force station, 1939–1944}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox military installation
|name=RNZAF Levin
RNZAF Weraroa
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|past_commanders={{plainlist |
- Wing Commander Ronald Sinclair
- Air Commodore Trevor White
- Wing Commander F.R. Dix
- Wing Commander Arthur Upham
}}
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|used=1939–{{End date|1944}}
|built={{Start date|1939}}
|ensign=Ensign of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.svg
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|ensign_size=90px
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|nearest_town=Levin, Horowhenua District
|country=New Zealand
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|coordinates={{Coord|40|39|14.4|S|175|16|15.1|E|region:NZ_type:airport|display=inline,title}}
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|type=RNZAF Ground Station and Landing Ground
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|operator=Royal New Zealand Air Force
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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.{{Cite web|title=Lost Airfields Then & Now RNZAF Levin/Wereroa {{!}} Wings Over New Zealand|url=https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/12818/lost-airfields-rnzaf-levin-wereroa|access-date=2021-02-12|website=rnzaf.proboards.com}}
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.{{Cite web|title=FORMATION OF SCHOOLS {{!}} NZETC|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2AirF-c4-1.html|access-date=2021-02-12|website=nzetc.victoria.ac.nz}}
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{{Cite web|title=Wartime RNZAF Stations|url=http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/RNZAF%20Stations%201.htm#Levin|access-date=2021-02-12|website=www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz}}
Postwar
In the late 1940s, the site became the Kimberley Colony for Mental Defectives, later renamed the Kimberley Hospital and Training Centre.{{cite web | title=To Have an Ordinary Life - part 1 | website=RNZ | date=2016-12-21 | url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/spectrum/audio/201828572/to-have-an-ordinary-life-part-1 | access-date=2021-10-01}} It was closed in 2006.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/64490246/stepping-into-the-past-the-kimberley-centre|title=Stepping into the past: The Kimberley Centre|date=December 27, 2014|website=Stuff}}{{Cite web|url=https://hauntedauckland.com/site/kimberley-centre-levin-horowhenua/|title=Kimberley Centre – Levin, Horowhenua – Paranormal New Zealand|website=hauntedauckland.com}} 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.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}