THE AIR PAGEANT

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 47, 19 November 1929, Page 12

THE AIR PAGEANT

CRITICISM RESENTED BETTER SHOW NEXT TIME Speaking in respect to certain criticism levelled at Saturday’s air pageant, Mr. McArthur, secretary of the Wellington Aero Club, stated yesterday that if there were shortcomings in the afternoon’s show, it was not the fault of the Club, which had nothing to do with the programme of aerial events. That was in the hands of the New Zealand Air Force and its officers, and they, in turn, were handicapped by the'absence of the Gloster Grebe ’plane (which crashed at Blenheim), and then by the wind, which increased notably after 2 p.m., and was really very bad at an altitude of a few hundred feet, more probably than the crowd imagined. It was only to keep faith with the publie that some of the stunting exhibitions were given, as such. were usually reserved for liner weather. The Club’s part of the affair, he continued, was to look after the ground and the safety of the public, and in that respect Major Isitt stated that the arrangements and work done were the best he had seen in New Zealand. It had to be remembered that _ the Club members manned the ticket offices and gates without payment, and the policing of the ground was also attended to by them. After all the hard work done by them on the ground for some weeks past he thought that the strictures passed were scarcely warranted though he admitted that there were shortcomings in the flying programme. “The financial receipts,” said Mr. McArthur, “exceeded all anticipations, and will mean added improvements to the ground and its equipment. It has to be remembered, too, that this was the first pageant held in Wellington, and will be valuable .experience for us in staging the next one.” When will that be? he was asked. “Next year some time. There is some talk of a pageant circle being arranged to encourage flying, each centre to have a pageant in turn, probably toward the end of the summer. If that is arranged, Wellington may chip in I” CLUB PRESIDENT PROTESTS (To the Editor) Sir, —Your reporter introduces the description of the Aero Club Pageant, held on Saturday last, with the head, “Bad Organisation.” Since I am personally aware of the unselfish efforts of those who devoted their time, energy and resources to the pageant, I resent your reporter’s criticism not merely because it is not correct, but principally because even were it true, it is both unsportsmanlike and in the worst taste. Those responsible for the pageant were working for an entirely unselfish object. The whole of their time was given voluntarily, and the work was difficult, the weather conditions unfavourable, and the display given by the pilots involved no little risk and required great skill. One would have thought your paper would have given the organisers credit for what they did rather than to concentrate on one or two minor matters. Stripped of its verbiage, your reporter’s strictures on the organisation are reduced to two principal matters. Firstly he says the public could not follow the events, and secondly that there was confusion over the height-guessing competition. As to his first point I can only say that programmes were available to whoever was willing to pay sixpence, and in addition •very event was announced and described by means of amplifiers erected on various parts of the ground. I give the public credit for sufficient brains to be able to follow the events when so assisted. With regard to the - second point of criticism, while it may be true that some error was made, it certainly does not justify the nature of your report. Personally. I think the work of the organisers deserves the highest credit. Nothing was provided but the bare ground. Everything from getting, the pilots and machines together, arrange ments for accommodation for the public, transport, etc., down to ticket collection and programme selling, had to be done, and was done, by a small band of busy men, every one of them working for no reward other than the satisfaction ot helping a great national movement. Such service merits praise and not captious criticism from any fair-minded man. It may interest your reporter to know that those competent to judge, namely the Commodore of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy and Wing Common-, der Grant Dalton, both informed me that they regarded the work done in most difficult circumstances as meriting the highest praise.—l am, etc., T. C. A. HISLOP. President, Wellington Aero Club. Wellington, November 18.

[Mr. Hislop’s attack ou our reporter is quite unwarranted. Every credit was given the pilots and the success of the main purpose of the pageant —that is, the stimulating of public interest in flying—was fully acknowledged. Here are two extracts; “The pageant marked a new step forward, and it should act as an incentive to further organised efforts in the same direction to the greater growth of public interest.” Again: “Taken as a whole, as far as the performance of pilots and ’planes were concerned, it must be said that the pageant has done a tremendous amount to impress the people of Wellington with the immense strides which aviation has taken during the Inst decade in the matter of manoeuvring, low landing speed and general safety.” What Mr. Hislop takes exception to is the additional comment: “But as entertainment the affair came far short of expectations, largely through lack of proper organisation,” This can hardly be disputed. In this issue Wing-Com-inander Stuart Grant Dalton, Director of Air Services, writes explaining that some dislocation of the programme was tine to his interference, for safety reasons, with certain portions of the arrangements.. Tins may account in part for the complaints which were heard and recorded by our reporter.]

CONSIDERATION FOR THE PUBLIC

Sir, —I am sorry to see that some adverse criticism has been given to the Organising Committee of the Wellington Aero Club with regard to the carrying out of their programme on Saturday. That the programme was not followed exactly may be put down to my interference as Director of Air Services. I felt ‘*jat in B >y position I was personally responsible for the safety of the public and the pilots. The weather was very • much against a successful display being given, and by three o’clock it was a case of closing down altogether or carrying on as they did. To allow five or six macbincs to race round a short course in that gusty weather was out of the question, and l»he only alternative was to send them off at half-minute intervals —very uninteresting for the onlookers, but anyone with nny knowledge of flying could see that the only alternati e was to cancel the race altogether, as was done with the slow race. That two machines should have gone up for the height-guessing competition is an error that is regretted by myself as much as anyone else, as I had given a very good estimate of the height in the first instance. This appears to be one of those regrettable incidents that occur, the cause of which is difficult to explain. To organise a successful pageant it is necessary that pilots should practise events altogether for weeks beforehand. This is absolutely impossible where the entrants come from all over the coun-

try. giving up valuable time to help on aviation. I have seen many pageants at Home, none of which was carried out in such adverse weather conditions, and I personally take my hat off to all the pilots who took part.—l am. etc., STUART GRANT DALTON, Wing Commander, Director of Air Services. Wellington. November 18.