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The SVAS AGM
was held on 20 June; the President’s Report is included in this
Newsletter below. The
2005 Whittaker’s Wings Over Wairarapa Airshow:
·
John Lanham and John Bargh are
leading the air display planning; the air display is expected to
feature both WWI and WWII aircraft, as well as Ag aviation, general
aviation, and possibly several jets.
We may “Launch” the airshow with a social
event at our museum during September - to present the air show to
potential sponsors and to publicise it in the newsmedia. Date to be confirmed; all members will be welcome. The date and time of the launch will be advised To all members: this Newsletter is being sent out on our revised membership list, based on this year’s subscription renewals. If you know of others who want to be members or who may have inadvertently let their membership lapse, please advise our Membership Secretary, John McMullan.
The Museum We
now have the Wright Replica Glider in our new Museum building - on
loan from the RNZAF Museum at Christchurch.
It will be assembled and hung from the roof as one of our first
displays, after the interior decoration is sorted. Thanks to grants from Eastern & Central and from Lotto, we are now progressing internal finishing of the Museum. The first priority is the kitchen and café facilities at the road-side end of the building. SVAS tow tractor We
have been approached with an offer of the use of a 1941 aircraft
towing tractor (ex Pearl Harbour) on permanent loan. This
machine is currently stored at Air Services Masterton and it
would be supplied in going condition.
--------------------------------------------------- SVAS AGM: President's
Annual Report 20 June
2004 Once
again I have pleasure in presenting my annual report for the 2003/2004
financial year. And once
again I am grateful to the Aero Club for the use of their clubrooms.
As an observation, I am pleased to say the various
organisations that work and play at Hood Aerodrome are a cohesive
group who work very well together. Museum
As
you all would know the museum is still leased to the “Masterton
Historic and Classic Transport Museum.We have notified them that the
lease will be terminated at the end of September this year, as we wish
to complete the Museum Building and set up our own exhibits. This
completion phase of the Museum project has been made possible by two
successful applications to Eastern and Central Savings Bank and NZ
Lotteries Commission. We
have been granted $18,000 from Eastern Central and $36,500 from NZ
Lotteries Commission.
Without
having definitive quotes for the completion of the Project I believe
we will go close. Aircraft
Last
year I referred to the ongoing battle of balancing the flying account,
as did our auditor, and you will recall my comments regarding the
aircraft insurance situation. As
indicated at our last annual meeting, our aircraft are insured for
third party risk only. As
a consequence of this policy, the flying account has shown a surplus
for the first time in a long time.
The account has gone from a deficit of $24,500 for the
2002/2003 period to a small surplus of $1,385 for the 2003/2004
period. This is largely a
result of a saving of $13,000 on our current insurance policy.
The
other major influence on the flying account is a reduction of $10,000
on aircraft maintenance. This
has been as a result of a substantial catch up in overdue maintenance,
now largely completed and an enormous effort by John Bushell, our
maintenance controller, and his team of volunteers, who have done most
of our aircraft maintenance for the past twelve months.
I record my thanks to John. I
raised the issue at our last AGM of a possible sale of our Proctor,
and the opportunity of increased aircraft utilisation if we replaced
this aircraft with a Chipmunk. The
situation has been resolved in that we now have access to the Old
Stick and Rudder Company’s Chipmunk.
We need to recognise however that the Proctor will always fly
very few hours in a year and be a net cost to the Society. Regarding
our other aircraft, they are in going order.
Nothing has improved with the Harvard’s engine, and your
committee must address this problem sooner rather than later.
The Tiger Moths and the Piper Cub are our mainstay aircraft as
usual, and continue to give excellent service. (Continued next column) |
23 October AERO CLUB ANNIVERSARY LUNCH On the weekend of 23-24 October the Wairarapa and Ruahine Aero Club celebrates its 75th anniversary. They have several social events planned, and we have offered to run a low-cost lunch at our main hangar for the Aero Club. The aim is to show off our aircraft, promote our air show and museum and socialise with other aviators. The lunch is open to all SVAS members, indeed we would welcome your help. Dave Cornick and Penny Bargh are masterminding the catering. A special note from the President I am keen to keep the issue of the future name of our Society in the minds of our members. As members will recall I have raised the issue of the name of your society in the last two of my annual Presidents reports and have suggested it may be time for a name change. The committee have canvassed members opinion and have made two suggestions that may better encapsulate what we do. First: "The New Zealand Vintage Aviation Society" Second: "The Golden Age Flying Society" Some thoughts on the first suggestion. This would be a reasonably small change and would better reflect what we do, fly vintage aircraft. The origins of our society go back to 1974 when I started discussions with Ron Alexander of "The Golden Age Flying Society" based at Omaka Aerodrome, Blenheim. Their Society was running out of enthusiasm and members and eventually they agreed to become amalgamated into NZ Sport and Vintage Aviation Society which was also closely affiliated with "The Tiger Club of NZ" , "The Amateur Aircraft Constructers Assn."and 'The Aviation Historical Society" The last AGM of the Golden Age Flying Society was held 25-6-76 and the first Committee meeting of the SVAS was held 8-7-76. Should we revert to our origins? Tom Williams, President --------------------------------------------------- Air Show I
have been in discussion with the Masterton District Council for the last
twelve months with a view to receiving some financial and moral support
for another major air show next year.
I am pleased to say that in the last few weeks the Masterton
District Council have indicated that their facilities and some
personnel, as well as some funding, will be made available for our next
Airshow to be held on 21st, 22nd and 23rd
January 2005, Wellington Anniversary weekend. It is our intention to put the MDC funding towards the costs of hiring a firm of event managers from Wellington to manage the detail of running the Air Show. Old
Stick and Rudder Company
Another
major development on the Aerodrome is the arrival of James Slade and his
collection of aircraft. James
has made a huge investment in aircraft and buildings here at Hood
Aerodrome, and his commitment to the Wairarapa is extremely exciting. To be present when the Corsair arrived, followed by the AVRO 504, was a memorable day indeed. When we see the arrival of a few more vintage aircraft we will have the nucleus of a very exciting Air Show for 2005. General
I
must record the Society’s appreciation to the Directors and management
team of the Masterton Licensing Trust, and the Masterton District
Council for the support both these organisations have given to the
Aerodrome in general, and the Sport and Vintage Aviation Society in
particular. As
members can see on reading our recent newsletter, the responsibilities
of running the Society have been designated to specific individuals, and
I must thank the committee members for a very busy and successful year.
Your committee have worked extremely well together and the
results are there to be seen in our accounts. I
reserve special thanks to Murray Sykes, who gets on with mowing the
Aerodrome without any interference, direction or fuss, and earns the
Society $14,000 a year for little recompense. Last year I raised the issue of renaming the Society. With our very close relationship with The Old Stick and Rudder Company and James Slade’s collection of vintage aeroplanes, I suggest that this issue has become a little more prominent. --------------------------------------------------- Newsletter Special Features:Tiger
Moth Club of NZ -Vintage Air Rally
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SVAS Newsletter