CANBERRA LEAVES HAREWOOD

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27150, 21 September 1953, Page 3

CANBERRA LEAVES HAREWOOD

Final Salute At 500 Miles An Hour

BIG CROWD VISITS AIRPORT

At more than 500 miles an hour the Royal Australian Air Force Canberra twin-jet bomber AB4-307 swooped low over Harewood airport on Saturday afternoon in a final salute to Christchurch before climbing away towards the Southern Alps and Australia.

The Canberra arrived in Christchurch on Wednesday after flying from Richmond, New South Wales, in two hours 24 minutes, to help with tests of distance-measuring equipment and ground-controlled approach radar installed by the R.A.A.F. for the Lon-don-Christchurch air race next month.

At the moment it crossed over the Harewood control tower on its homeward flight, the Canberra was due to arrive at its home station, Laverton, near Melbourne, 201 minutes later. • Harewood was packed with sightseers from the middle of Saturday morning until after the Canberra left. Cars lined all the roadways round the airfield and their passengers enjoyed the warmth of spring sunshine.

Busy Airport The Canberra was, however, not the only attraction for visitors to the airport. During the morning, while the jet was away out of sight on final tests, the Canterbury Gliding Club’s double-seat trainer held the attention of hundreds as it performed silent aerobatics overhead. Tiger Moths of an aerial top-dressing firm, Canterbury Aero Club Austers, Proctors, and Miles aircraft, the National Airways Corporation’s Douglas airliners, and a Lockheed Electra, shining with a brilliance which told of recent overhaul, took off. landed or were parked on the tarmac. The Canberra, the main attraction of the day, took off for test approaches on ground control at 10.30 a.m., and was away'for about two hours. About 2.15 p.m., the crew returned, and the business of making ready for the 1500mile flight to Laverton began. Covers were removed from the engine intakes, and various blocks, pins and plugs, fixed to the aircraft on the ground, were taken out. Pilot Officer M. Ridgway, the Canberra’s captain, walked out in front to watch the starting, the second pilot (Flying Officer P. Hamilton-Foster) signalled him with both thmubs up from the cockpit, and with a thump and clouds of smoke both engines were fired together. The captain climbed back into the aircraft, the door was shut and the Canberra began to move. It was airborne at 2.50 p.m. Before turning on to course, the pilot took his machine in a wide circle over Christchurch and then back across the airfield. At 2.56 p.m. the jet was only a dot high in the sky above the Southern Alps.