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Story: Aviation

Sockburn airbase

Sockburn airbase

In 1916 the Canterbury (NZ) Aviation Company was established to train pilots for war service, and to promote military and commercial aviation. An airbase was built on the outskirts of Christchurch at Sockburn, where these instructors, pupils and ground crew hammed it up for the camera in 1917. In the background is a Caudron biplane used for training pilots.

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How to cite this page

Peter Aimer, Aviation – The beginnings of aviation, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/6565/sockburn-airbase (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Peter Aimer, published 2 March 2009.

Comments

Anonymous
05 April 2013
My late grandfather Rolf Adams learnt to fly in 1917 at Sockburn and went on to fly Sopwith Camels into combat in France in 1918. He survived the war and went on to become a successful civil engineer. Several of his "coat-hanger" design concrete bridges still are still standing and in use.