Events

On 1 June 2014, Baragwanath celebrated the 95th Anniversary of the original Baragwanath Aerodrome and the Johannesburg Light Plane Club.

As has been the trend for most of the events this year, the weather was not very kind to us on 1 December with a howling crosswind that thankfully became more of a breeze as the day progressed.

In 1928, Mary Heath made front page news around the world as the first pilot to fly a small, open-cockpit biplane from Cape Town to London’s Croydon Airport.

On 2 November 2013 pilot Tracey Curtis-Taylor embarked on a journey to fly her own open-cockpit Boeing Stearman biplane from Cape Town to Goodwood.

What a great day of fun flying! Once the early morning winds backed off, the events became feasible, and we all had a blast.

A gaggle of Johannesburg Light Plane Club (JLPC) aircraft flew across to Nylstroom on a cold Saturday morning. Four aircraft departed for the flight north, the coldest being the pilot and passenger in the open Tiger Moth.

Richard Webb of CameraStuff approached the Watsons in an attempt to host a photography workshop with a Great Gatsby Theme. He hoped to include a photo shoot with models, a vintage car and a Tiger Moth. What was put on at Baragwanath was so much more… The photographs speak for themselves.

You know what they say: “If you want bad weather over a weekend, organise a flying event long in advance and it’s bound to happen.” Well, the Weather gods didn’t co-operate with us this past weekend, throwing winds that neared gale force across the runway at Baragwanath.

By teaming up with an orphanage, the members of Johannesburg Light Plane Club (JLPC) gave something back to the community by asking the Easter Bunny to come to the airfield. Eggs were hidden and the twenty-odd children had a great time salvaging their treasures from in amongst the hangars and the aircraft.

The weather had its part to play over the weekend, resulting in a smaller-than-anticipated list of entries for the Gauteng Regionals. Competition was fierce.

The themed Sunday encouraging the owners of biplanes to display their aircraft attracted a formidable guest of honour, the Antonov AN2, ZS-FOO, owned and operated by Heystek and Michelle Pretorius.

Ace of Base was held on the 9th of December 2012 back at the original home of aerobatics.

Fun Rally at Baragwanath
30 June 2012.

Stretch your nav skills and have a whole lot of amateur aviation fun.

Getting the youth involved in aviation is important to JLPC, and therefore, the St Stithians Boys’ College Aviation Club was invited to be a part of this weekend’s event. The boys came prepared with cloths and buckets; ready to wash aircraft in exchange for a ride.

The second of our old aircraft instalments saw a variety of aircraft come to Baragwanath, young and old. We even enjoyed the company of Mike Blythe from the Sling Factory who showed us his around-the-world record breaking aircraft.

On the 16th of October 2011 we had the first get-together for “old aeroplanes” that were built before the 20th of July 1969 (when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon and man was no longer earth-bound) They were parked in the prime space in front of the clubhouse.

The Fun Rally finally returned to Baragwanath Airfield after two years of waiting.

the first successful test flight of a de Havilland aircraft by Geoffrey de Havilland – 10 September 1910