AERO CLUB RALLY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXI, Issue 214, 24 August 1931, Page 6

AERO CLUB RALLY

A COMPLETE SUCCESS SOME SPLENDID FLYING. MEMBERS COMPLIMENTED. The rally held by the Hawke’s Bay and East Coast Aero Club at the Longlands Aerodrome on Saturday afternoon, and the ball held in the evening, were most encouragingly successful, and the club’s enterprise in holding an outdoor gathering in face of the risk of bad weather was deservedly well rewarded. Though it was by no means a pleasant day, either for spectators or for fliers, the attendance of the public and of visiting pilots was pleasingly large.

When the first event was due to begin it appeared as though there would be only a handful of people to see the afternoon’s entertainment, but within an hour afterwards there was a crowd of several hundreds. The club’s annual rally was held at Masterton this year, and rally on Saturday was arranged merely to sustain public interest and to give local and visiting pilots an opportunity of meeting and practising special phases of flying, One of the most gratifying features of the rally was the generosity shown by the visiting pilots in flying up here in such bad weather to give their support and encouragement, and with, out their presence the rally would have been not nearly the great success that it was.

The competitions resulted as follow

Landing Competition.—G. C. Field (Hawke’s Bay) 1, C. Waite (Wellington) and L. Taylor (Wellington) (equal) 2. Aerobatics.—C. Waite (Wellington) 1. Landing for Endorsed A Pilots.— lan Gordon (Hawke’s Bay) 1, Tayloi (Wellington) and Petrie (Wellington) (equal) 2. Bombing the Circle, A pilots—R. D. Brown (H.B. Club) 1, A. White (H.B. Club) 2. Landing Competition, A pilots— Haybittie (Hawera) 1; Stan White THE RALLY BALL. The dance held at the Racecourse Kiosk in the evening was particularly enjoyable, and was attended by a very large number of people including Wing-Commander Grant-Dalton, who presented the prizes, Major Wallingford, and others of the visiting airmen. The room was prettily decorated with balloons of the club colours, and with generous quantities of ferns and other greenery along the walls. A fitting touch to the decorative scheme was given by a large model of an aeroplane suspended from the ceiling, and to add to the excellence of the imitation its propeller was kept busily whirring around as though in flight. Bridge tables were set out in an ante-room, and the verandah, which was comfortably covered in, was used as the supper-room. The music was played by Walden’s Orchestra, and was extremely good in every item. It was altogether a gay and thoroughly enjoyable dance, and went on merrily till the stroke of midnight, when it was brought to a close by the playing of the National Anthem.

During the evening Mr. T. O’Dowd, vice-president of the club, thanked the visiting pilots for their support, and expressed the club’s acknowledgment of the fact that their assistance had been the chief means of making the day the great success that it had been. Mr. O’Dowd also thanked Mr. lan Gordon and Mr. B. M. Kessell for their generosity in presenting cups for two of the competitions. Wing-Commander Grant-Dalton, assisted by Mrs. O’Dowd, then presented the prizes, and in doing so he congratulated the elub on its enthusiasm in organising the rally. The club as a whole, he said, and its members individually, were most enthusiastic, and its pilots and the visiting pilots had put up really excellent performances. The aerobatics event was particularly good, and in his opinion the standard of aerobatics among the club-trained pilots of this country was much above the average. Referring to the fact that the elub had several Gisborne members all of whom were doing most excellent work, he urged that visits between Gisborne and local members be more frequently exchanged. The Wing-Commander concluded by calling for three cheers for Mrs. O’Dowd, and they were most enthusiastically given.