April 1980
The New Caledonian Aero Club Rally 1979
The idea of a flock of French aircraft touring New Zealand was born in 1978 following a welcome given to Nelson based pilot Brent Ferguson at Noumea by the New Caledonian Aero club. Brent had arrived during the club's preparations for a 1978 rally — a "Coral Sea" route across to Australia, New Guinea, Rabaul, Solomons, New Hebrides, and back to New Caledonia. Brent was intrigued by the use of small aeroclub aircraft to navigate these trans-oceanic distances and the suggestion followed naturally that the Frenchmen find their way to New Zealand in 1979.
WINGS is pleased to present the second in the series of the "Best of Browne" — a feature initiated in the Dec/Jan issue. Judging from the correspondence received, the series has stimulated a number of memories and it is intended to feature some of these in future issues of WINGS.
Veteran aerial photographer Vic Browne, now in his eightieth year, has contributed the photographs from his extensive collection and WINGS files have largely provided the captions. Comments on the aircraft depicted or corrections/additions to the captions are welcomed.
 May 1980 |
 March 1980 |
 December 2017 |