Tunnel Vision - Unearthing the Secrets of North Head
Tunnel Vision - Unearthing the Secrets of North Head
Available from here.
Blurb
On 12 October 1918, the New Zealand Flying School took possession of the first two Boeing aircraft ever made. Almost a century later Martin Butler goes in search of any remnants of these famous planes. His journey takes him to North Head, Devonport's famous military landmark, which has long been the subject of rumours and urban myths about sealed-up tunnels and hidden rooms. Could the planes be buried in one of these 'forgotten' tunnels? After research and investigations spanning twenty years, Butler uncovers a trail of deception, confusion and cover-ups as he attempts to unravel the mystery of what lies beneath the surface of North Head.
Review
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After approaching this book with a little trepidation your reviewer actually found it rather fun. The title is a double entendre - referring not only to what might be in the supposed tunnels but also what might have occurred to have suppressed their existence. Archaeologists appear: David Veart of course but also John Mitchell, Sue Bulmer and tangentially as a peace researcher, Owen Wilkes. Other famous names – our chief Justice Dame Sian Elias ruled on a case relating to the issues and Dr Jim Sprott, of the Thomas case fame have roles. This reviewer has had professional relations with Peter Riley who did some investigation as an engineer and with past ARC council members Paul Titchener and Ian Bradley who have made contributions to the story. If you have lived in Auckland in the past few decades with an interest in history it will be hard not to have some connections, nostalgic or otherwise with this book.
The Walsh Brothers flying school at Mission Bay in Auckland briefly flew two Boeing and Westervelt seaplanes (more narrowly floatplanes) around 1920. They were the first aircraft produced by the future aviation giant Boeing. They made some pioneering flights here, but were only part of the fleet that overall made a notable contribution to New Zealand aviation. What happened to them has intrigued aviation enthusiasts ever since, including Butler who came to this project through his aviation interest. The school was defunct by 1924 and the Government bought all its assets for military use. John Isitt, then an army officer with air responsibilities had to evaluate the assets. He concluded the B and W wood built planes were in bad condition, not worth repairing and useless for service work. He did not put a value on them, unlike the more recent aircraft of British origin that he did consider were of value. The British aircraft were crated up and moved to a Naval establishment on the southwest corner of North Head where they remained for some time but later the airframes were burnt on the foreshore, the aero engines sold off and the four remaining storage cases also sold. While there were sufficient crates (the British planes originally came in them) there is no contemporary evidence that the B and W airframes were ever crated up or were taken to North Head. However the Hall-Scott engines of the two B and W planes did make it there and were sold in 1926. Only four crates of seven remained to be sold. Stories from much later say the planes were stored in tunnels, perhaps in crates. Others say they were moved there but this is all memory from much later. Sean Elias’s judgement on the history reads dead right, even if Butler tries to undermine her conclusions.
There is rather a lot of special pleading in the book – starting with modern perceptions of value being applied to the past. Surely the people in 1924 could see the historic value of the Boeings and would not have casually disposed of them? Not so – they were being assessed for military value alone and were found worthless. Boeing had been a non-player in the boom in US military aviation in WW1 and was still a very minor player in 1924 – its future greatness was not in prospect and in any event, the other British origin aircraft – particularly the Supermarine Channel flying boat which had made a pioneering Auckland Wellington flight - were casually disposed of a few years later with seemingly no thought as to their historic value.
The bit of aviation archaeology reported in the book is frustrating. In the early 1960s some parts were recovered from the foreshore and sent to Boeing who is reported as saying they were not from their aircraft. That is enough for Butler, but what specifically were the parts, what expertise did Boeing have in identifying those 40 years later (they built a replica of their first product in 1966 but they used different technology) and if they were not Boeing parts what were they?
Butler gives a straightforward account of the flying school and its aircraft up until its demise but the rest of the book becomes a whodunit about the supposed tunnels and things stored in them. The point of the exercise is not the military history of North Head but the aviation interest which lead to it. There are witnesses that supposedly went into the tunnels and saw things, reported crates, aircraft, munitions and other military equipment stored there. What is glaring in these accounts is the lack of contemporary documents relating to their supposed visits and the lack of evidence from military personnel working on the site in the tunnels, as we are supposed to accept, into the 1960s – well within living memory.
The military defence history has been researched by archaeologists but this book is not motivated by an interest in that so what is presented is biased by an obsessive belief that the tunnels that stored the aircraft must exist. The presentation of the archaeology here does not start from the position of writing an objective military history of the site. That is where the conspiracy theory starts to emerge. As usual with conspiracy theories missing documents feature – they must have been suppressed - the small differences between reports are given great significance, “obvious” clues are supposedly ignored and niches are searched for in otherwise comprehensive investigations that just might still hide a tunnel entrance.
Why was there a conspiracy? Why, the tunnels stored not only aeroplanes but a vast quantity (in at least some versions) of degrading munitions (and here even chemical weapons). The documentary and physical evidence of the tunnels was systematically removed, by the Government bodies – the Army, Maritime Park and its successor the Department of Conservation to avoid having to deal with the munitions. Their later investigations into supposed tunnels were either deliberately blind to the evidence and / or incompetent, we are supposed to believe. Certainly one Army investigation was incompetent but it is much more realistic to view it as army personnel quite unfamiliar with operating in a commercial environment in which they were placed. That is where the court case came in.
The last chapter covers a Ground Penetrating Radar survey of parts of the hill – remote from the supposed Navy site tunnel entrance. It does suggest some underground features – though strangely the advantage of GPR of showing depth does not seem to be utilised in most of the illustrations. Ground truth is not really demonstrated. Nor is it going to be followed up by Butler, as his requested further excavations have been refused.
What is lacking here is a credible discussion of WW2 munitions storage in Auckland or the relationship between naval and army use of the North Head site. Some of the recollections of a tunnel large enough to drive into could well be confusing the later tunnels at the Devonport Naval Base, but these are not discussed either.
So is the hidden tunnels story credible? Not very, but perhaps not an entirely dismissible idea. There was the opportunity of spare labour in Victorian times and the tuff base of the hill is readily able to be tunnelled with hand tools, but against this the possible entrance points have been fairly thoroughly investigated. Is the covering up of dangerous munitions conspiracy credible? Not in the least. In an urban location what responsible Government or department would not resolve the matter to have the site safe?
What happened to the B and W seaplane airframes? Well that is still a mystery. They were in poor condition in 1924 – if they were retained then stored somewhere damp there could be little left of them now, but we can’t expect that will end peoples’ fascination with them.
Butler’s book, if not convincing is certainly entertaining and for mostly good reasons.
Note:
There is a second revised edition of Mr Butler's book. This is a review of the first edition.
