Tauranga's last remnant of a bygone era in aviation, the massive 65-year-old airport hangar, passed into history yesterday. Riddled with borer and condemned by a structural engineer as a "lost cause", the rimu-framed goliath took 10 hours to demolish. It was the swansong for a magnificent edifice and landmark built in 1939for the RNZAF's World War 2 pilot training school. Hopes to convert the building into an aviation museum were dashed when closer examination revealed the hangar had decayed to the point of no return. Demolition site supervisor John Paul Stil was in awe of the hangar, saying the span was amazing for a wooden building and the biggest he had ever encountered. The hangar, minus the row of offices along the outside of the building, was 90m long by nearly 40m wide. "It was a really amazing building. It was bit of a shame it had to be pulled down," he said. However, Mr Stil said the borer was everywhere - indicating that most of the wood was softer "sap rimu" and not from the heart of the tree. All that could be salvaged was the roofing iron and steel girders supporting the huge sliding doors. Once they were removed, the excavator claw made short work of ripping apart the framework. The hardest part of the job which began last Tuesday was removing the interior and exterior sheets of asbestos safely. Cutting steel, carting away the rubbish and cleaning up the site was expected to take until the end of next week. The fate of the hangar was sealed once the aircraft housed inside were moved to 11 commercial hangars. Twenty-three new private hangars are planned for north-western side of the airfield. Land occupied by the old hangar will be converted to carparking in about three years. Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby said a number of pieces of timber from the old hangar would be kept as memorials for the museum to be housed in a purpose-built hangar being built near the entrance to the airport. The museum will be completed next April, with operational vintage and military-type aircraft on display. Static displays and memorabilia will complete the scene, together with a cafe and conference room.
