95th Anniversary of Baragwanath

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2014 marks 95 years since the first flights out of Baragwanath Airfield, when Arthur Millar and Tommy Thompson operated an AVRO 504 from the original airfield in 1919.

So, in honour of this significant anniversary, Baragwanath will be hosting an aviation art exhibition (with Alan Hindle's artwork as the main showpiece) and fly in over the weekend on 31 May and 1 June this year. The event is going to be a celebration of South Africa's aviation heritage, and her flying future.

It is going to be in the same spirit as the Goodwood Revival (held annually in the UK) with period dress, period music, and lots of aeries. The intention is to recreate an airfield of yesteryear at Baragwanath, and enjoy the memories that our flying has afforded us.

So, please save the date - 31 May and 1 June - and follow http://www.jlpc.co.za which will have updated details closer to the time.

Also, if you own an interesting aircraft, please pm me, as the more old, unusual or interesting aircraft, the better!

Courtney Watson

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Come and join us on 1 June!

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This is going to be a unique event which recreates that atmosphere of aviation’s heyday and at the same time looking towards our flying future. Highlights include:

1. Classic aerobatic competition run by the Sport Aerobatic Club;
2. Scale Model Display;
3. Pin-up models on the 1930s;
4. Live music (Jazz bands, etc);

Participants who arrive in period dress do not pay entrance, and suggestions about what to wear can be found at http://www.jlpc.co.za/Baragwanath_Airfi ... _ideas.pdf

We hope to have a wide array of different aircraft on the day, and if you are going to attend, please rsvp to cwatson@stithian.com with your name, contact details and aircraft type.

See you there!

[Slipstream]

The girls have been organised...now we just need the aeries!

[Slipstream]

This is not a public event, but please circulate the invitation to any pilots who would like to come through...

[Avgas]

2014 marks 95 years since the first flights out of Baragwanath Airfield, when Arthur Millar and Tommy Thompson operated an AVRO 504 from the original airfield in 1919.

Was Brian Z and Ian Poppenwell not the first at Barra G round about the same time

[Slipstream]

I'll ask them - are you going to come through, Richard?

[Avgas]

We certainly will try and get there

[Slipstream]

GLIDER BUILD-OFF CHALLENGE

One of the events we would like to hold on the day (depending on interest) is a model aircraft construction challenge...

Here's how it goes:

1. Standard equipment for all competitors (glue, covering, wood, etc.)
2. On the day - 1 hour to build a flying glider
3. Attached to a bungee cord (surgical tubing), each competitor stretches the bungee to the same point and lets go. Whichever one stays together and glides the furthest wins...

Any takers? PM me if you are interested. We'll take 10 competitors...

[noelotten]

At long last the date for the Alan Hindle Aviation Art Exhibition has been set .... 1st June 2014 .... Baragwanath Airfield

The wheels have turned slowly and we have had some set-backs, but the events of the past 2 weeks have put the wheels back on the project and makes for an interesting little story.

But first, more information about this event will be posted on the following thread .......

All are welcome and we will appreciate you bringing your aircraft to BaraGee...... Especially vintage and veteran aircraft, motor cars and motor cycles!!! .......

PS ..... Please come in 'period' dress!

Now for my story .......

I have been in contact with owners of Alan Hindle works of art from all around the world. One, 'Bill T', who now resides in Canada, sent me this e-mail this very morning .... (I trust he will not object to me posting it on an open forum) .......

Hello Noel,
What a nice surprise to receive your e-mail. I know of you of course from seeing your name associated with Tiger Moths & Barag many times over the years.
A grand idea to have a display of Alan’s work. He was quite the character, and we had a long friendship. We both had homes in Mondeor.
Alan was a diamond cutter by profession, and painting was his relaxing past time.

By all means I am only too happy for you to include my painting, but I don’t know how good a copy we can send you; it’s too large to scan, so will have to photograph it and take it from there. Will send in a separate e-mail.
By the way, there was a wonderful painting by Alan of Alcock & Brown’s Vimy crossing the Atlantic that hung in the club house lounge. Alan had donated it to the club; I have no idea what became of it, but somebody must have it, or know where it is.
We shall also send you another of Alan’s painting of a Tiger Moth.There is a long story to it. My wife Jean & I were on a visit to SA some years ago, and tracked down my old pal and long time gliding crew chief, the late Boy Siebert. We found him living in an old bus parked on the airfield at Worcester. He had a 1990 calendar of aeroplane pictures, including one of Alan’s. It will need some cropping, but it might be of some use to your plans.
Alan gave a print of a Spitfire & a Hurricane; one to each of my sons when they were little boys. My son John has the Spit & will send to you, but alas we cannot locate the Hurricane.
Take care, & do keep in touch, good luck with your exhibition,

Bill.

Bill's reference to the Alcock and Brown flight across the Atlantic Ocean in the Vimy was of particular interest to me! My reply to Bill explains it in more detail. ..... I hope you find the story interesting.............

Hi Bill!
Thanks for your quick and positive response!

Well! I can finish the story of the painting by Alan Hindle depicting the Alcock and Brown flight across the Atlantic in a Vimy in 1919! The painting Alan created of that epic flight was called ‘The Point of No Return’ (1965), and, as you have stated, hung in a prominent place above the fireplace in the JLPC clubhouse for nearly 20 years. When the club departed the ‘old’ Baragwanath Airfield in 1983, the painting disappeared. No one that I spoke to knew of its whereabouts. There were a number of theories and some even ventured to mention names of whom it might have been who had ‘borrowed’ it. But the fact remained …. It was gone!!! I was upset about this, but I had dropped out of aviation by that time and simply put it out of my mind.

Fast forward now to about 2009. By now I had become active in aviation again because one of my daughters had chosen an aviation career, and, my interest in building and restoring aircraft was re-ignited. I had been involved with the construction of my Christen Eagle 2, I had restored my Tiger Moth ZS-CDJ and was busy with the restoration of my Skybolt ZS-VCP. I also rejoined the EAA of South Africa. That is the background to my story!
One evening in 2009 I attended an EAA talk-show at Rand Airport. As I walked into the auditorium I saw the painting ‘PONR’ on a chair at the front of the hall with a ‘for sale’ sign on it. I approached the ‘owner’ and questioned him about the painting. He informed me that he was emigrating and that he had decided to sell the painting. When I told him that the painting actually belonged to the JLPC and that it went ‘missing’ during the move some 30 years before he became quite incensed and proclaimed quite vigorously that he was “not a thief” and had paid R 5 000,- for it …. But would not tell me from whom he had acquired it. He assured me he could show ‘proof-of-payment’. He wanted approx. R 8 000,- for the painting.

I said to him … “I’ll make a deal with you!” My offer was …. R 5 000,- for the painting, which I would pay the following day; and the painting, I insisted … “would go home with me that same evening and in return …. I don’t take the matter any further!” He accepted my offer! We shook hands on the deal. I was happy!

So! ‘The Point Of No Return’ now hangs in my home ….. but the JLPC club now knows where it is!

Fast Forward once more to July 2010 and the story continues …. About the time I bought PONR I wrote an article about Alan Hindle. Alan and I go back a long ways …. Another story in its own right …. During 1979 to 1981 I too lived in Alan Manor / Mondeor, about 300 m from Alan Hindle’s house.

I had quite an unexpected response to the second article. I was contacted by two of Alan’s daughters, Vivica and Jenny; a niece in the USA; and a nephew in Johannesburg. At that time, they informed me, two of Alan’s sisters were still alive and were then in their early 90s! Jenny told me that her mother had been telling the grand children about Alan and how both she and her mother wished they had one of his paintings to show them. This sparked the idea to arrange an exhibition of Alan’s art ….. And that is how this exhibition project got started.

Well, good intentions, but, as is the norm, life got in the way. I wrote another article requesting people who had an AH painting to get in touch with me. But very little happened until October 2013. Quite literally ‘out-of-the-blue’ I received an e-mail from a lady who told me she had ‘GOOGLED’ the name Alan Hindle and my article came up. She had an AH painting. She described the painting to me and my interest was immediately aroused. I asked if I could see it. We arranged a meeting and a few days later Frank Persson, his wife Jane and I visited with 'Cecelia P'. When we walked into her lounge the painting was propped up against a chair and was covered up. We exchanged a few pleasantries and then she removed the cover.

To say I was blown away is an understatement. I had by that time acquired a fairly good knowledge of Alan’s paintings …. After all, I had watched him at work on some of them …. But this one I had absolutely no prior knowledge of! It was a complementary painting to the PONR which I now owned!!!! The PONR depicts the aircraft over a very stormy sea and it is flying away from the viewer! This newer painting, (1973), is the same scene ….. but from a front-on view …. And, to my mind … it is stunning!!!

This ‘find’ spurred me on to getting an exhibition organised ASAP. Slowly but surely the wheels have been turning. This past weekend the committee set the date for the celebrations being planned at 01 June 2014. On Monday morning I started phoning the contacts I had made and was relieved to learn that both of Alan’s sisters are still in good health … 94 and 96 years of age! And Cecelia informed me that I had better hurry as she is moving down to Cape Town this next weekend!
Today I went to see her. She was absolutely ecstatic that at last her painting would be seen by more people than just her family and friends ….. and, she made it patently clear …. The painting is not for sale! But I have asked that I should be given the right of ‘first refusal’ if she ever changes her mind.

I leave it up to you to appraise the 2 paintings……..

....... I've had a busy day!

Noel

PS: I have been given permission by some of the owners to make prints on canvas in A3 size for sale as a fund-raising drive for JLPC. These will be on sale on 1st June. We will also be producing a calendar for 2015.

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[b]JLPC 95th Anniversary Fly-in
Baragwanath aerodrome
1st June 2014
Provisional Program of Events[/b]

08:00 to 09:00
Arrivals and Registration
(R50.00 per ticket, if you wear period dress, entrance is free)
St Stithians Jazz Quartet

09:00
Sport Aerobatic Club Classic Aerobatic Competition briefing

10:00 to 13:30
Classic Aerobatic Competition
Glider building competition
Alan Hindle Art Exhibition

12:30 to 14:00
Lunch
St Stithians Jazz Quartet
Formal Anniversary Proceedings

14:00 to 15:00
Scale Model Display

15:00
Prize Giving

15:30 onwards
Departures

Bring a picnic for lunch, although food will be on sale.
There will also be pinup girls available for photographs with your aircraft.
Please rsvp to cwatson@stithian.com

[Slipstream]

Our fly in is coming up soon!

Hope to see you on 1 June.

Arrivals from 08:00, PLEASE RSVP, and if you come in period dress, it's free (otherwise R50.00)

For more info, see www.jlpc.co.za or email cwatson@stithian.com

[FvR]

Hi Guys

Found this interesting link and thought I should share.

http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol126ae.html

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So the BaraG Fly In is just around the corner. The line-up for the day is as follows:

08:00—09:00 Arrivals and Registration
10:00—13:30 Sport Aerobatic Club Competition
12:30—14:00 Lunch and Anniversary Celebrations
14:00—15:00 Scale Model Display
15:00 onwards Departures

There have been some queries about period dress. PLEASE MAKE THE EFFORT! We're looking at things like appropriate hats, braces, plus fours, that sort of thing. Google "Goodwood Revivial Costumes" if you'd like some ideas.

Also, don't forget to RSVP to cwatson@stithian.com if you will be attending.

See you then!

[The Hun]

Thanks for a great day , the planes ,the Models..., the cars,the model aircrafts can't wait for the pictures to come out on Avcom.
Look forward for the 100th birthday , Roland