Hovercraft Models tor Air Exposition

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30368, 18 February 1964, Page 19

Hovercraft Models tor Air Exposition

Working models of hover-1 c. aft and other special items ere being brought from Lon-! don for the Christchurch Air Exposition, 19&4. by the British Petroleum Company of New Zealand, Ltd., for its • exhibit i-n the static display, I the manager of the exposition committee (Mr R. F.l Short) said yesterday. The i exposition will be held on March 7 and 8. The whole of the 23.000 sq.' ft. space in the Christchurch ',_ ro Club hangar is nowi taken, up, and a marquee will probably be necessary to i house the further entries' expected for the display I Twenty-seven exhibits are already arranged for. Airwork (New Zealand), Ltd., and the United States r<avy are also arranging displays. On the first day of the exposition (Saturday) guided bus tours will be run from the aero club hangar to the National Airways Corporation training centre, workshops and maintenance hangars, and the Civil Aviation Administration Aeronautical College. On the Saturday, too, the airport control tower will be connected by closed-circuit television to the aero club hangar so that the public can see the controllers at work. Vintage Aircraft Included in the static display will be a number of vintage aircraft, the oldest being a 1929 de Havilland Puss Moth owned by Mr R. Stackwood, a member of the aero club. The next oldest aeroplane in the exposition will be the 1932 de Havilland Fox Moth which is being prepared by the owner, Mr J Switzer, an engineer with the club, for the re-enact-ment on March 6 of the 1914 flight by Mr J. H. W. Scotland from Timaru to Christchurch. Mr Switzer will himself pilot the Fox Moth on the re-enactment flight. Airmail carrying a commemorative postmark will be carried on an N.A.C. flight over the same route. Another feature of the static display will be 16 aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The

RN.Z.A.F. will also provide a four-aircraft aerobatic team for the flying display on the Sunday afternoon. The start of flying on the Sunday will be the take-off of the first entrant in the Christchurch - Masterton - Christchurch air race at 9.30 am. So far, three completed and two verbal entries have been received for the race. The completed entries are by West Coast Airways, Ltd., with a de Havilland Dominie to be flown by Mr B. Waugh on behalf of the Hokitika Aero Club; Clyde Engineering, Ltd., with a Sud Aviation Gardan Horizon to be piloted by Mr I. P. Palmer, chief flying instructor to the Rotorua Aero Club; and the Northern Districts Aero Club, with a Piper Cherokee to be flown by Mr T. W. Peek. The verbal entries are for a Mooney Super 21 and a Cessna 310. The Gardan Horizon is a model new to the South Island. A feature of the afternoon’s entertainment will be a pylon race in which about six experienced pilots will! race at about 300 ft round a three-mile triangular course marked on the ground by three 80ft pylons. Other events include a glider formation-flying and aerobatics display by members of the Canterbury Gliding Club, and sky-diving from 8000 ft by parachutists who will delay opening their parachutes until near the ground. The United States Navy will also put on a flying display if aircraft are available. There will also be an aerial topdressing display. The contestants in the air race should return between 3 pjn. and 4 p.m.