1000-MILE AIR RACE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25300, 27 September 1947, Page 8

1000-MILE AIR RACE

QUANTITY OF PETROL TO BE USED STATEMENT BY AERO CLUB A statement that it was unlikely that any more petrol would be used in the South Island 1000-mile air race than would be Vised in the normal aero club training programme was made by the Canterbury Aero Club yesterday in reply to a correspondent’s letter to “The Press” suggesting that the race would entail an unjustifiable waste of hundreds of gallons of petrol. The club’s statement added that the difference in this case was that instead of the petrol being used throughout New Zealand, on the week-end fixed for the race, the aircraft would all be concentrated in the South Island. In the letter to “The Press” the correspondent, “Waste Not, Want Not,” said:—

“A recent issue of ‘The Press’ reported that the president and secretary tof the Canterbury Aero Club had paid a round of visits, by aeroplane, to North Island clubs to foster interest in the Thousand Miles Air Race, which the Canterbury club proposes to hold shortly. ‘The Press’ to-day reports similar visits, this time to the West Coast. Motorists are being urged at present to assist Britain by restricting their motoring, and so save petrol, and thereby dollars for EnglaiWL Now. while the Canterbury Aero Club is to be commended for what it has done and is doing for aviation, surely it can see that an air race of 1000 miles and the propaganda flying which it entails are unjustifiable waste of hundreds of gallons of petrol, and most unfair to motorists who have been told plainly tnat the alternative to voluntary saving will be rationing and coupons. One hopes that if the club does not temporarily abandon the race, . the Controller of Civil Aviation will cancel the permit, if issued.” “Aero club training not only provides refresher training for former Air Force pilots, but also builds up a reserve of young pilots who are available in emergency, as in 1939,” says the Canterbury Aero Club’s statement. “We think it wise to clear up in the minds of the public any idea that the South Island air race is going to be purely a speed event with no training value whatsoever. This event is a navigational training contest and will, therefore, be in the nature of a refresher course for former Air Force For post-war club-trained pilots it will involve a considerable amount of navigational study which, together with navigational lectures, should bring them up to somewhere near Air Force standards.

“As this is one of the primary objects in the minds of the committee, it has wisely laid down that speed will not be permitted and checks and control points are being instituted to ensure that aeroplanes are flown at normal cruising speeds. It has been stated on many pccasions that, while New Zealand has a large reserve of trained pilots, this reserve is entirely a paper one, in that pilots do not, as yet, nave a refresher course each year. It has been appreciated by the authorities that this navigation contest is in the nature of a refresher course and as such has inestimable value.”