RNZAF Station Te Pirita RNZAF Station Te Pirita was to be largest New Zealand World War II airfield , located south of the inland mid Canterbury town of Hororata . Designed to accommodate United States Army Air Forces heavy bombers , it was in fact never used . Construction . Hurriedly built in late 1941 to 1942 after the Imperial Japanese Navy ' s sudden attack on Pearl Harbor , Te Pirita was , at the time , New Zealand ' s largest airfield . Due to enemy Japanese forces closing within reach of air attack of the North Island , the New Zealand Government commandeered large tracts of land in the farming district of Te Pirita for use as a ' secret ' retreat base . This was to be the first in a network of bomber bases to be built in the Canterbury region . The airfield was constructed in record time using seconded civilian and New Zealand Armed Forces engineers . Three enormous heavy earth compacted runways up to 2000 meters long were laid in prevailing wind directions of the region . The runway surfaces were laid with wattle tree seeds for strength . The base was designed to handle large numbers of USAAF Boeing Flying Fortress and Consolidated Liberator bombers . Initial Use . Commissioned by the RNZAF while still under construction in 1942 , the airfield was initially used for air training . At least one B - 17 Flying Fortress landed on the runways to test vectors . As the tide of the Pacific War turned in 1943 due to Allied victories in Guadalcanal and Papua New Guinea , the airfield was no longer an essential requirement and construction of revetments , hangers and barrack blocks were halted . Plans for other bases in the region were scrapped , although basic administration facilities remain and armed guards continued to patrol the site . The base closed in late 1943 but was held in reserve for the duration of the war . The runways were kept intact and tidy by regular mowing of their unique wattle grass . Hidden Fuel Depot . Well away from the site of the base , but equally important was the construction of the airbase ' s aviation fuel bunker , the largest in the country which was located at Bankside , beside the north bank of the Rakaia River next the Main South Line Railway . Well camouflaged by pine trees , the in ground , steel roofed cylindrical concrete bunker was served by a cleverly hidden rail siding . The actual fuel capacity was estimated at 700 , 000 imperial gallons . The bunker also served the nearby and more visible RNZAF Norwood satellite airbase . Abandonment and remains . Eventually the airfield was abandoned and left to mother nature . The wattle ' grass ' soon grew into bushes and then into full size trees . This allowed the airfield site to be easily spotted from the air as late as 2006 with perfect runway layouts created by the overgrowth . Intensive sheep farming returned to the region and most traces of the base began to disappear . In the early 21st century a Dairy boom took over most of the flat mid - Canterbury region and Te Pirita was no exception . By late 2010 , three large ' rotary ' method dairy farms now sit over the site of the airbase and most of the wattle tree - sown runways have finally vanished , even from Google Earth . However a keen eye can still make out the general layout of the runways due to the well made formations and some still - standing clusters of trees . The opposite can be said for the huge fuel bunker at Bankside . After years hidden in a small stand of its camouflage pines , and after suffering years of indignity being used as a local rubbish dump ( its roof removed for scrap ) , the bunker site has been completely cleaned up , and ' exposed ' . The trees being cut down in 2008 . The local council is turning the huge bunker into a historic site with interpretation and information boards explaining it as well as Te Pirita airbase ' s existence during a very dark period in World War II . The bunker is located on Breadings Road , just past the Terrace Road intersection , however the site is closed but can be viewed through the fence . A good Google Earth view is also available .