The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES". GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1948. ALLOCATION OF GIFT AIRCRAFT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22572, 27 February 1948, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES". GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1948. ALLOCATION OF GIFT AIRCRAFT

T AST October the Government made two decisions which were J intended to benefit the aero clubs of New Zealand. First, it announced through the Minister in charge of the Air Department, Mr. .Jones, that 42 Tiger Moths, surplus to the requirements of the Air Force’, were to be given to clubs throughout the Dominion. Secondly, it stated, again through the Minister, that Cabinet had approved of training by aero clubs for a maximum of 150 Air Training Corps cadets. Under the latter scheme each selected cadet was to receive up to 30 hours' flying training, the Government to bear the expense. Many clubs have been thankful for the rather belated but welcome assistance thus given. In Gisborne, however, it has been found that the only practical help enjoyed is the provision of funds for training cadets, which works out at £4 an hour for dual instruction and £3 10s for solo flying. The revenue coming in from this source is not sufficient to cover the flying activities essential to normal development. It appears that the comparatively buoyant state of the moderate finances handled by this young club is largely due to sound administration by the executive and the public spiritedness of the original instructor, Mr. Renolds, and of the ground engineer, Mr. Fellow, without whose otfers of voluntary service nothing like a sound start could have been made. There has also been a generous gift; by an anonymous member. The enterprise shown here—a district which, incidentally, has a fine service record, is worthy of more tangible encouragement. One of the first imperative steps is to secure a rightful share of the Tiger Moth training machines which the Government handed over to the Royal New Zealand Aero Club for distribution. Further efforts towards achieving that ambition were prepared at the annual meeting of the Gisborne Club on Tuesday night when the president, Mr. G. A. Nicholls, led a discussion on the method of allocation adopted hv the Royal New Zealand Club. It certainly appears unfair that the Dominion organisation should adopt, the principle that disposal of the aircraft should he on a basis commensurate with the amount of the subsidy clubs claimed to have earned in 1946. On this basis allocation is being made to 16 clubs in existence in that year, and the position is all the more incongruous on account of the fact that some of these fortunate 16 clubs arc so well established that they have no need for the gift planes and do not want them. The ■whole system of disposal obviously calls for an overhaul with an eye to the removal of its inequitable features. Aero clubs are of the greatest importance in fostering and maintaining interest in aviation. Before the war they performed a valuahlo function in training pilots for both military and civil purposes and when war came they contributed greatly to the expansion of the Air Force. Since the war many of the clubs have been left embarrassed, uncertain of their future, and indeed uncertain if they have a future at all. It, is probable that in the long run they will all pull through, hut in doing so they will require the stimulus both of liberal and practical public interest and fair consideration of their claims by influential authorities such as the Government and—in the case of the training plane allocation—-the Royal New Zealand Aero Club.