Display takes a dive

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 6

Display takes a dive

A display of model aircraft which has attracted big crowds elsewhere in New Zealand has failed to attract much attention in Christchurch.

The display in the Building Centre, Cashel Street, which finishes today, has been organised by Weedons School.

The principal, Mr R. Dawson, said yesterday that crowds “lined the streets” when the models were displayed in the North Island and at Nelson.

“I am hard put to give a reason why the attendance has been so disappointing. We had 130 people in yesterday but only nine today," he said.

Most of the several hundred models are owned by Sergeant G. A. Dolman of the Wigram Model Aircraft Club. Many are collectors’ pieces and have been displayed in several centres to raise funds for charities and other organisations. Other models of aircraft in present use have been lent for the display. One, lent by Air New Zealand, is a DCIO with a wing span of eight feet, and is valued at $15,000. The display also includes a

series ot cnarts on tne history of flight in New Zealand.

Films-are being shown as part of the display, including a British Airways film on Concorde and a television documentary made by a Japanese film crew at the school last year. The film crew was in New Zealand to mark the inaugural flight of Air New Zealand to Japan. The documentary was shown to an audience of 16 million in Japan, he said.