WIGRAM AIR DISPLAY

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24371, 25 September 1944, Page 4

WIGRAM AIR DISPLAY

—♦— STATION OPEN TO PUBLIC CROWD OP 10,000 PRESENT For the first time since the outbreak of war the people of Christchurch were given the opportunity on Saturday afternoon of visiting the Royal New Zealand Air Force station at Wigram, which was open to the public to mark “Salute the Airman” week m the Victory Loan campaign. Ten thousand people accepted the R.N.Z.A.F. invitation, and saw for themselves .the tremendous expansion in the size of the station and its activities since September 3, 1939. . ~ ■ Practically nothing was closed to the visitors, and all afternoon they were able to wander at will through the hangars, the workshops, the barracks, and the armoury. When they tired of this the R.N.Z.A.F. put on a fine show for them. They saw all types or service aircraft from the ponderous Douglas Dakota transport to the tiny Piper Cub fly past on parade, and watched formations of Oxford and Harvard trainers taking off for a flight over Christchurch. A pilot in a Harvard gave a breath-taking display of aerobatics, the fastest fighter in New Zealand—a chunky dark blue Corsair with gull-like wings—swooped and turned low in the air at more than 350 miles an hour, and finally the station fire brigade showed the crowd how to rescue a pilot from the blazing wreck of an aircraft, and put out the flames. Soon after midday the crowds started travelling towards Wigram. There were dozens of small boys on bicycles, many motor-cars, and the tram traffic was so great that the Christchurch Tramway Board ran a special express service during the afternoon. By 2 o’clock the tarmac in front of the huge hangars was black with people, dozens of motor-cars and bicycles were parked inside and outside the aerodrome, and more people were still entering the gates. Hangars Open The visitors made the most of their opportunity of seeing the various sections of the station, and small boys particularly were in their element, swarming all over the aircraft in the hangars or gazing admiringly at those lined up outside. The Link trainer instructors had to answer many questions, and were kept busy giving “flights” to youthful pilots. Crowds of people also spent a long time in the workshops, and watched an aircraft engine roaring away on the test bench behind its heavy wire netting protection. The main attraction of the afternoon was the aerial parade of all types of service aircraft. Most of them had been seen over the city at various times since the war began, but on Saturday people were able to see them at close quarters before they took off. There were the Douglas Dakota transport, the Oxford twin-engined, and the Harvard single-engined trainers, the de Havilland Rapide, the Kittyhawk fighter, the Puss Moth, the Tiger Moth, the Piper Cub. and the Rearwin. Before the fly past the formations of Oxfotds and Harvards took off to fly over most of Christchurch, and well up towards the Waimakariri. In the rear cockpits of two of the Harvards were a reporter and photographer of “The Press,” who were able to see from the air the vast expanse of airfield and the number of big buildings needed for a modern air training station. The perfect formation kept by the Harvards on each side of them indicated the skill of the instructors who play their part in the air war in the Pacific and over Europe just as much as the fighter and bomber pilots. Tiny Aircraft The fly past was led by the tiny Piper Cub, which passed low over the crowd at a speed of less than 40 miles an hour. It seemed almost to hover in the air, and demonstrated the manoeuvrability at low speeds which has made it an ideal aircraft for artillery spotting in Italy. The rest of the aircraft passed by in ascending o;der of size, and the last was the twinengined Douglas Dakota transport, which is used by the RN.Z.A.F. in the Pacific. As the display finished, the control officer spoke by radio telephone to an

aircraft, his conversation, tween the pilots 0 f two aircraft bemg plainly heard by the crowd. The re turning Oxfords came -oyer the air - fields in echelon formation and tne people on the ground heard the nign* commander’s instruction for eachone to “peel off” from the formation. They did so. one by one, sweeping low over the field, and were followed by me Harvards. . . , a Next a wing-commander tossed a Harvard about in the air with me greatest of ease, making the aircrai almost stand up on its tail as » climbed, and then loop and roll in.lazy fashion. A sharp-nosed Kittyhaws showed its paces, and then the really thrilled the crowd, belying chunky look by the gull-like grace and swiftness of its manoeuvres, r the first time the crowd saw something that hitherto had been known only from photographs—thin trails of vapour pouring from the Corsair's wing tips as it screamed upward alter a dive. The various combinations of flare signals used by the R.N.Z.A.F. were then demonstrated, and the afternoon s display ended with the fire-fighting. The aircraft “wreckage” blazed furiously, the alarm sounded, and fire engines and ambulance came speeding to the crash, the crowd previously having had to be driven back by a hose to keep it from encroaching. In a few seconds an ungainly looking figure in an asbestos suit walked straight into the flames and rescued the ‘'pilot, and airmen-firemen were pouring streams of chemical foam and water on the blaze. . During the afternoon the band of tne Christchurch wing of the Air Training Corps and the Wigram Pipe Band gave selections. There was a Victory Loan investment office on the station, ana leaflets dropped earlier in the wees were redeemed for a £1 Victory 3cno if they bore the right numbers. These had been bought by members of tne Air Force for presentation to holder! of the lucky numbers,