RANGIORA AIR PAGEANT Nearly 5000 See Display

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28531, 10 March 1958, Page 7

RANGIORA AIR PAGEANT Nearly 5000 See Display

Nearly 5000 people enjoyed a bright display of flying at the air pageant held on the property of Mr C. J. Ballagh, at Rangiora, yesterday to raise funds for the development of a new airfield in the district by the Canterbury Aero Club and the Rangiora Businessmen’s Association. The flow of traffic into the parking area provided for spectators was so heavy at 2 p.m. that the gate keepers were having difficulty in coping with it and had the weather remained fine the crowd would have probably been much larger. The total takings from the gate and joy rides were about £4OO.

The crowd was thoroughly delighted by a breath-holding display of crazy flying in which a seemingly untutored pilot in an Auster Aiglet attempted to follow the routine set by an experienced pilot in another plane. It was a brilliant piece of flying. Three gliders gave a brief display of formation flying finishing with the Prince of Wales feathers. Mr W. K. Wakeman also gave an aerobatic demonstration with a glider and did some very able flying with a Cessna. An excellent display of loops, slow rolls, barrel rolls and stall turns was given by Mr R. Alexander in a Tiger Moth lent by the N.A.C. As an example of how aircraft could be used to facilitate fencing in difficult country, a Piper cub made a run with a fence post under each wing and coming over the strip at low altitude dropped the posts to the ground. Undoubtedly the most popular event for the children, and a long awaited one, was the lolly scramble near the end of the afternoon. Hundreds of youngsters, and some not so young, took part in the rush as the plane emptied its load along almost the full length of the field. Although the pageant did not start till 2 p.m. joy rides were in steady demand from 11 a.m.

In a keenly contested air race four aircraft finished within a second of each other.