The 1931 Air Pageant

On the 21st February 1931, the Otago Aero Club hosted the grandly titled “Official South Island Air Pageant and Inaugural Meeting of The Otago Aero Club” at what was then called Otago Air Port, but would later become Taieri Airfield.

The Air Pageant was a great success, with over 10,000 people in attendance. The Evening Star would report the pageant with the headlines, “Thrills at Taieri”, “Exciting Aeroplane Races” and “Sensational Acrobatics in Mid-Air”.

The pageant included formation flights over the city and a series of displays, races and competitions throughout the day. The latter included a “Bomb the Baby” competition that saw pilots attempting to drop small bags of flour onto a Baby Austin that was “driven erratically” around the field. While the Civil Aviation Authority today might take a dim view of such proceedings, the surviving pages of the programme and photographs from the day provide a fascinating insight into the event and the era.

Photographs from Hocken Digital Collection.