Peter Miller. 2004

THE NEW HANGAR OPENED

July 2004

A good attendance at the opening of our new hangar at Stratford yesterday, July 3rd and we were delighted to see two of our founder members, Neville Cleland and Ivan Chinnery-Brown there and Pat Struthers. Ivan and Pat also both are life members of the club. After a welcoming speech by Club President, Richard Arden, the Chairman of the Taranaki Electricity Trust, Mr Brian Jeffares addressed us and then invited Ivan to help cut the ribbon. We all promptly adjourned to the warmth of the clubhouse for tea & coffee and tasty morsels of food.

The people from TET were impressed with what we had achieved with their grant and were encouraging in their comments.
Taking a keen interest in the building was Rodney Smith, a key member of some years back. He was a top pilot and holds a Gold C with diamonds for distance and gain of height. The latter being a 23000 feet asl flight out of German Hill. His story repeated in a recent club newsletter. He was always keen to see a hangar at Stratford, if only for the winter months when things at German Hill were rather wet and cold.

After the guests had departed, John Tullett and friends reinstalled the Blanik wheel which had gone u/s but he said that the tyre must be replaced so that will happen. At the close of flying, on the next flying day, the towplane and Blanik will move to the new hangar and that will be neat.

Richard Arden and yours truly cleared out most of what was usable from the German Hill hangar and clubhouse and along with the Blanik trailer, took the lot down to Stratford. It may sound a bit silly, but I still had my Silver C badge on my hat from yesterday, intentionally so, as a personal tribute to some very fine people who worked and flew at German Hill airfield for nearly thirty years. Their work still prevails.

Peter Miller