AIR RACE OF 1953

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28265, 1 May 1957, Page 12

AIR RACE OF 1953

Commemoration Proposal

More than three years after the finish of the London to Christchurch international air race, a move has been made to commemorate the event. The form of the memorial has not yet been decided, but it will be at Christchurch airport. M The race was run in October, 1953, by the Canterbury International Air Race Council which was formed in 1948 and wound up as an incorporated body only last month. After an expenditure of £49,259 the council finished with a surplus of nearly £5OO. It is from the surplus that the memorial will be paid for. The memorial proposal has been made in a letter to the Christchurch City Council by the committee appointed to wind up the air race council’s affairs. The letter is being considered by the City Council’s aerodrome committee. Suggestions for the memorial’s form have included a tablet placed in the foundation of the airport’s proposed new terminal building; or a bronze plaque fixed in a prominent place in the terminal’s main lounge.

In a letter to the council outlining the proposals, the committee has also suggested that the balance of money left over from the memorial cost should be handed to the Royal New Zealand Aero Club for flying scholarships for youths under the age of 22; one of the scholarships to be reserved for a Canterbury youth.