Aviation Equipment In New Guinea

One of the most interesting buildings yet erected in the Pacific Islands in here illus trated. It is a new aeroplane overhaul and machine shop which has been erected at Lae in New Guinea for Guinea Airways Ltd., and, as it has to accommodate some of the largest aeroplanes south of the equator, it had to be specially designed and constructed.

The new building is made of steel, and the height from the ground to the top of the gable is 45 feet. The opening at each side is 102 feet 8 inches wide, so that there is room for the biggest aeroplanes to be wheeled into the shop. To construct a building of this description, with such an enormous span, required the services of expert engineers. The job was given to the Sydney Steel Co., Ltd., of Marrickville, Sydney, and engineers were sent to New Guinea in the first place to plan the job.

Huge trusses had to be designed to carry the weight of this enormous span, and all this work was fabricated in Sydney and shipped in pieces to Lae, where it was assembled and erected. Each truss weighs four tons and, altogether, 150 tons of steel were used in this remarkable engineering undertaking.

The big building was constructed right over the top of the old machine shop, which can be seen in the photographs, already partially enclosed. In the back ground of the top photograph can be seen one of the old hangars. The same photo graph shows the new blacksmith’s shop that has been constructed beside the new building.