On the 4th of February 1920 two South African pilots set out to complete the first flight between London and Cape Town. This grueling flight took Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Van Reyneveld and Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Joseph Quintin Brand nearly 46 days to complete.

On the 14th of March 2020 this feat of aviation was celebrated at the University Of Pretoria with fly-bys from historic aircraft. The public was invited to bring their picnic baskrts and enjoy the day next to the sport fields.

The fly-bys commenced at 12h00 with the always excellent, Brian Emmenis and Elvis Manene from Capital Sounds, keeping the spectators well informed on the history of the different aircraft taking part.

The first display was that of the pristine Tiger Moth flown by Colonel Jeff Earl, soon followed by an Auster. After the Tiger Moth and Auster had left, it was the turn of the Boeing Stearman flown by Ivan Van Der Schaar.

Two beautiful De-Haviland DHC-1 Chipmunks then had their turn, led by Grant Timms.

After the Chipmunks, the spectators prepared for the fastest aircraft on the day’s list. Doing just over Mach 1 with full afterburners on, the Antonov AN-2 ‘Little Annie’ piloted by Mark and Jon-Marc Hill rocketed overhead.

Following Little Annie was an Alouette II and III, flown by Charles Fuller and Rob Osner.
Staying with helicopters was a McDonnell Douglas ‘Hughes’ 500C flown by Kim Prately.

The skies then filled with a familiar sound in Pretoria on a Saturday Morning. A formation of 3 Bosbok Aircraft came over with Jason Beamish showing us the meneuverability of the Bosbok by doing a knife edge.

The last of the fly-bys was from probably the best known classic aircarft in South Africa. Known to pilots as the ‘Spammy’ or Harvard operated by the Puma Energy Flying Lions Aerobatic Team put up a wonderful show. The 3 ship flew their always impressive tight formation aerobatics.

This has once again been a perfect example of the smaller aviation events really standing out. Well done to everyone who made sure the day was such a massive success.

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