My old man was posted to the 'new airport' at Dar around Nov '54 as an ATCO, we drove down from Nairobi - nightstopping at Namanga & Moshi;
Not sure where the old airport was - could have been same location???
Good job we did nightstop, just South of Namanga came across a Swedish White Father looking at his mangled Chey station wagon
Rhino 1 (+headache) Chevy V8 NIL
The new airport was some 10 miles outside Dar, and had just been opened, we lived a couple of miles further out at Ukongwa site of the main prison (King Georgie Hoteli !!!) - the airport estate had been built in the prison shamba (garden);
Our house had been the Project Engineers and was the second to be built - there was a 40ft (?) tall water tank in the garden - great for swimming!!!
Aeroplane Magazine had a photo spread around 18 - 24 months back - with some good shots of the opening - not accessable at present - in the packing, much to my wife's disgust !!!
PZU