AERO CLUB WILL HOLD BIG PAGEANT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18961, 7 January 1930, Page 9

AERO CLUB WILL HOLD BIG PAGEANT.

FIXTURE ARRANGED FOR FEBRUARY 15. The Canterbury Aero Club has fixed the date for its first pageant for February 15. It will take place at the Wigram Aerodrome. This is the first aerial pageant to be organised in the South Island. Arrangements already made provide for an exceptionally good display, and several other items have yet to be attended to. A number of the most prominent airmen in New Zealand are to participate, and will probably include Captains M’Gregor (Hamilton Airways), Lloyd (Wellington), White (Hawke’s Bay) and Chandler (Marlborough). Captain Mercer will be in charge, assisted b} r Captains Buckley and Bur rell, of the Air Force. Twenty-five or thirty machines will probably be at the disposal of the club for the pageant, all the Aero Clubs of the Dominion having been invited to take part. The Air Force will loan several machines, and there will be at least eighteen visiting ’planes. It will in such case be necessary to limit the entries in some of the events to one from each centre, and some will have to be run off in heats. The date, February 15, has been selected to fit in.with other pageants being held in the north, and this will obviate the necessity for pilots making double trips. Blenheim has fixed the date of its pageant for February 22. and the Hawke’s Bay and Auckland Clubs are holding theirs about the firsl week in April. The Programme. The main event of the fixture will be an Aerial Derby of five or eight miles. Other events will be landing competitions, including one for New Zealand-traine dpupils, the Wakefield Cup being the trophy This cup will be competed for annually. A parachute descent will provide a novelty for Christchurch people, while other acrobatic displays will be provided. Stunt filying by some of the visiting pilots should prove a big draw. An event under the name of “balloon strafing” is also set down on the programme. This competition, between two pilots, lies in the “strafing” of as many small balloons as possible “Bombing the baby Austin” is anothei novelty. Events will be run off at quarterhour intervals Every machine will be numbered so that identification will be a simple matter. Results will be posted on a land “aeroplane” to provide variation from the usual custom. A height-guessing competition, open to the spectators, will be conducted. This has proved very popular at other pageants. If the weather conditions are fav ourable, several flights of machines yvill fly in formation above the city during the lunch hour, to advertise the event. A band will be in attendance at the grounds. The funds accruing from the nominal charge to be made at the gate will be devoted to improving and adding to the club’s grounds and buildings.