Wigr by o DAVE WILSON reports on the difficulties facing two men who want to turn Wigram into a profit-making facility. OB Davidson and Dick Ba coved to save Wigran sheton are the principais ir group resolved to save Wigram air base from dismemberment after it is vacated by the Air Force. Officially, the RNZAF has not yet decided to abandon Wigram, but its core function - flying training a is being moved elsewhere in five months, and a viability study on the cost benefits of Wigram versus Woodbourne is almost complete. When the paper is ready, the Government will be asked approve the closing of either Wigram or Woodbourne. The Minister of Defence, Mr Cooper, and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal John Hosie, already on the record as saying Wigram Looks like being casualty in a Defence cost-saving operation.** This proposal was in the wind almost two years ago when Budget cuts to Defence spurred the RNZAR's quest to find substantial economies in its activities. Il was around this time, in late 1991, when Bob Davidson and Dick Shelton entered the picture. They proposed a rescue plan, a joint ventute belween Defence and the civilian aviation community, to share Wigram. Under their original plan, the RNZAF would find Its savings while remaining at Wigram, and various aviation and related industries would base themselves on the 247ha airfield. Bob Davidson, is unsure of precisely when it happened, but some time after March last year, the New Zealand Defence Force quietly lost interest in discussing the plan. In October 1991 Mr Davidson's Hedging wigram Consortium was being actively encouraged by the Chief of Defence Force, Vice Admiral Somerford Teagle, to discuss with the RNZAF a lease or joint-use plan for Wigram. Defence budget cuts that year had the military looking for areas in which to retrench. In a move that shocked many, the RNZAF announced that all flying training would move from Wigram within three years. What if it could be shown that the Air Force could make money from Wigram, by sharing it with civil aviation users? The consorlium was born from this idea, and without any publicity rollowing swiftly drew members in the month. By March last year, Mr Davidson was able to tell Admiral am plan frus rated ificial foot-d rag ging Dick Shelton ... former lecturer. Teagle of the swift progress in his group's talks with the Air Force. Such was their confidence, the consortium's business concept document predicted that a shared civil/military use of Wigram would generate a gross income of between million and $10 million after five years. A gross income of up to $1 million could be expected in just the first full year or business. The' consortium's principals thought they were on to a winner. They proposed a deal in which the RNZAF's operations at Wigram would remain sacred. The Alr Force could even have the power of veto over which civil operators were based there. On paper, everything looked sweet. After initial talks, however, Defence suddenly began to fudge its replies to the consortium's letters Worse; It did not tell Mr Davidson or his group that it had lost interest, It just did not bother responding to certain requests. Today, with the base's future on the line, Messrs Davidson and Shelton admit they are frustrated at the delays to what they hoped would be a smooth transition in the use of Wigram. Their original plan, prepared last year assuming & joint venture with Defence, nas been revised to that of a civilian, stand-alone venture. Its objective is to retain wigram as a civil airfield, an aviation training facility, a tertiary training and education base, an aviation and allled technology business park and a resource.. on stand-by for Canterbury and the nation case of emergency situations. For the plan to work, Wigram must be retained in its present size. The businessmen fear there may be a fire sale and the site chopped up into mini industrial estates. Mr Davidson says the proposal, in which the consortium is supported by the Canterbury Development Corporation and the Canterbury Business Development Board, can only proceed if Defence co-operates. At the moment, in their view, Defence is not co-operating. Their requests for an RNZAF liaison officer to be appointed to help the consortium prepare its detailed feasibility study of Wigram has been sidestepped by the military at Defence Headquarters. "R Davidson said he and * his business partner first • detected this new attitude in mid-1992. Defence, up until then, had been happy to talk about a shared military/civil use for Wigram. It asked the pair to produce a detailed plan of their proposal. A business concept document, 8 general outline, was produced, in which the consortium asked Defence to appoint two RNZAF officers to a steering committee. The RNZAF input would make it easier for the civilian consortium to assemble the countless details and technical and financial points needed to prepare a detailed cost analysis of the proposed joint venture. "Defence did not reply to that request," Mr Davidson says. "Without their help to facilitate information on the base, it has made our job that much harder." Later last year lhe pair repeated their request to Admiral reagie, this time asking for an RNZAF liaison officer to help them prepare a feasibility study on the future use of Wigram. They say that again Defence sidestepped the request, indicaling that the future planning for the land, assuming it was vacated by Defence, would be for the Christchurch City Council to decide. "We cannot understand why Defence will not co-operate, " Mr Shelton says. "They have all the data we need to prepare the feasibility study but they are trying to fob us off. "Defence asked us to do a feasibility study, and now it will not help us get the information we need to prepare that study. It's like trying to buy a house but not being allowed to look through The pair say they have the credentials, the experience and the backing to make their plan a reality. Mr Davidson, who is the consortium's spokesman, is a former Territorial soldier, civll engineer and airline industry training manager. He , joined the former National Airways Corporation in 1956 and in the 1970s brought all of NAC's training functions, scattered among the divisions, under a single umbrella, establishing the Leonard Isilt Aviation Training Centre at Christchurch International Airport. It undertook flight crew and engineering training, alrcraft and engineering maintenance and industrial engineering services. Mr Davidson says the operation, which disintegrated when NAC and Air New Zealand were mergea, was a lucrative income earner in its time. "Between 1975 and 1978 its income rose from $75,000 to $2.5 million a year." Mr Davidson was made redun- dant by Air New Zealand three years ago and teamed up with Mr Shelton, former lecturer at Lincoln University with a background in management skills. "Eighteen months ago Dick talked to me about the Leonard Isiti Centre and asked Can you do the same thing at Wigram?' and the answer is yes," Mr Davidson says. Under their scheine, Wigram could bloom as an aviation centre, with a range of activities from training New Zealand, Pacific Islands and South-East Asian pilots, to educational training in areas complementary to the aviation and travel industry. "Wigram is used for more than pilot training. They train cooks, firemen, administrators and electronics technicians, and there is no reason that kind of training cannot continue, under a civilian enterprise" Mr Davidson says The pair say they have contacts with some big names in the aviation industry, offshore companies interested in having aircrait components overhauled or made here. "But we cannot put a deal to them until we know what sums of money it would take to establish the operation," Mr Shelton says. The pair say their investigations to this time have been funded from their own wallets. "We have put thousands of dollars of our own money and untold hours into getting this proposal off the ground." Mr Davidson says. As to what funds they would need to give Wigram life after death, shrug "We don't knot yet. We son know what it would cost and will not know until we do the feasibility study. and we cannot do the feasibility study ation, Without Defence co-oper- Mr Davidson says if Defence offered the base for sale, they have a backer prepared to put up funds to make a realistic offer for Wigram. ''This plan not something that aims to save Wigram because of nostalgic historic reasons, although the importance of the place demands that it should be saved. "But we cannol approach it from an emotional point of view The plan is being approached from a strictly commercial point of view. It has to be viable, the businesses based there will have to stand on their own feet." Mr Davidson, while disappointed at the lack of progress with Defence, adds that he believes the Government, which ordered the Budget cuts that placed Wigram in jeopardy, should not try to hide behind the Defence chiefs. "The politicians have a lot to answer for. Defence and the Air Force should not be allowed to be made the whipping boy. "But unless someone in Government tells Defence to cooperate with ine teasibutty study : fear we will lose Wigram and i will be chopped up."