AIR PAGEANT

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 40, 17 February 1930, Page 7

AIR PAGEANT

BOLT .WINS THE DERBYi

SUCCESSFUL FIXTURE

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post") CHBISTCHURCH, This Day. '

There were over 10,000 people present on Saturday at the Canterbury Aero Club's first pageant, at Wigram.

Aerodrome.

Thirty machines were drawn up on. the ground in front of the hangars, mechanics tuning them up to "concert pitch," and pilots every now and again were taking short trial flights preparatory to the events. The weather in.. the morning was not favourable. There was not very much wind, but the clouds hung low and spoiled) visibility for the spectators. At the start the weather appeared to be improving all the time, and promise was for an excellent day. Owing mainly to the weather there.was a, delay in the starting of the- firs" 1 event,, a heat of the Wigram Derby, the main competitive event of the day. At times in the afternoon the mist came down within four hundred feet of the ground,, making flying more difficult and the' visibility very poor as far as the spectators were concerned. The formation. ,

flying scheduled for 12.30 p.m. had to. : be postponed. Soon after 1 o'clock the weather again showed signs of iinproving, but the visibility remained bad. It was decided to go on with the programme as arranged. The display of aerobatics, which^was given early in the afternoon, thrilled the large crowd which had assembled by that time. The most spectacular item of the display was low looping by Mr. H. Armstrong. Flying,at about 300 feet above the ground, he looped perfectly, making the crowd gasp at the way in which the machine answered his control. All the pilots did side rolls, flick rolls, and loops in. a manner that was thoroughly 'entertaining to the public. Keen disappointment was expressed on all sides when it became known that Mr. 3?. C. Chiehester and his now famous machine were weather-bound at Blenheim. It was announced that he would appear in Christehurch later.

When a start was made with tho heats of the Wigram. Derby visibilitywas much better and the spectators had a good view of the whole of the race. The course was a straight one of about five miles altogether, the turn being made in the vicinity of the Addington Show, Grounds, WIGRAM AERIAL DERBY. . The Wigram Aerial Derby, for light aeroplanes (five miles) resulted as follows:— First heat: F. D. Mill, Moth (Auckland), 1; N. S. K. Bloomfield, Moth. (Auckland), 2;N. C. Chandler, Moth (Marlborough), 3; T. W. White, Spar* tan (Hawkes Bay), 4. Mills's time was 3min 55sec. Second heat: M. C. M'Gregor, Moth, (Hamilton), 1; J. M. Buckeridge, Spartan (Dunedin), 2; G. A. Stedman, Spartan (Wellington), 3; E. W.• .Norman, Avian (Canterbury), 4. M'Gregor damaged his 'plane as he was getting into position for this heat and flew in. a Canterbury Club machine. M'Gregorys time was 3min 42sec. Third heat: G. B. Bolt, Moth (Wellington), 1; N. H. Barlow, Moth (Canterbury), 2; W. S. Parke, Monocoupo (Wellington), 3. The winner's time was 3min 43sec., The most conclusive win in the heats was that of Mill, whose coupe Moth, with its streamline cowling over the cockpit, seemed to have superior speed. The pilots in the Spartans were generally not as well able to make the turn, at high speeds as the Moths. Lacking tha power of the other machines,, the Monocoupe was never in the picture. The Final. In the final the pilots were Mill, M'Gregor, and Bolt, and Miss Clifford (Canterbury), who flew the Spartan, which was damaged in the morning. The result was as follows:— G. Bolt 1 • M. C. M' Gregor ........ *. 2 . Miss A. Clifford i 3 D. Mill 4 Thirty yards between first and second, with third 50 yards behind second, and fourth a similar distance away. Time, 3min 43sec. Mill got away badly and Bolt retained the lead he got ia the take-off. OTHER EVENTS. One of the novelty events of the afternoon was the all-transport "race, in. which the pilots competed three at a time. They had to run fifty yards, bicycle fifty yards, fly round a mark, land to a mark, run fifty yards, cycle again, and then push wheelbarrows home.' The results were as follow:. First heat—T. W. White, 1; J., M. Buckeridge, 2; N. C. Chandler, 3.. Second heat—N. S. E. Bloomfield, 1. Third heat—M. C. M'Gregor, 1; G. B. Bolt, 2; G. A. Stedman, 3. Final result: White, 1; Bloomfield, 2; M'Gregor, 3. The heats were timed, and the winner of the fastest heat won the event). Landing Competition (open to New Zealand club-trained Pilots). —D. E. Grigg (Canterbury), 1; E. S. Taylor (Canterbury), 2. Women: Miss P. Bennett (Marlborough), 1.

Landing Competition (open to pilots other than those trained by clubs). —G. B. Bolt, 1; M. C. M'Gregor, 2. Slow Bace (one mile). — G. B. Bolt, I. Bombing Competition.—N. H. Barlow, 1,