This blog is substantially based upon a brief talk given by Mrs Margaret Harradine at the Newton Park Library on the 16th May 1990.
Main picture: Newton Park in 1947
Continue readingPort Elizabeth of Yore: The History of Newton Park
Tag Archives: Fairview
Port Elizabeth of Yore: A Typical Early Airflight to Cape Town in a Biplane
The first flights offered to Cape Town by Union Airways commenced in November 1929. The aircraft used was a De Havilland DH60 with a two-person passenger cabin. The facilities were rudimentary at best but in all likelihood non-existent. In this blog, a Mr. Dowdle, recounts his flight to Cape Town on Christmas Day 1931.
Continue readingPort Elizabeth of Yore: The Origins of Newton Park
Having been brought up in Newton Park. I always assumed that I should know the origins of the suburb, especially its name, but like most people, I am blissfully unaware of how it acquired its name let alone the history of the area. For me this was a voyage of discovery. Hopefully it is for you too.
Main picture: Aerial view of Newton Park in 1938
Continue readingPort Elizabeth of Yore: Airfields, Airports & Aerodromes
During the age of biplanes, aerodromes, airfields and airports were intimate places where family and their friends could view the passengers boarding while standing beside the plane. Today their signature features are formality, impersonality and huge scale, the very antithesis of the personal touch. This impersonality is exacerbated by the hub-and-spoke approach of air flight today.
Without radar, navigational aids such as ILS or concrete runways, these aerodromes served these fragile midget planes.
Main picture: Avro Anson F1 1143 based at 42 Air School
Continue readingAllister Miller: A Aviation Pioneer and his Connection with Port Elizabeth
Allister Miller was not only a war hero but he was instrumental in the creation of a civilian aviation industry in South Africa. By all objective measures, he can claim to be the father of this industry. Due to his record breaking flight from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, he was accorded recognition in Port Elizabeth by naming the street past the airport, Allister Miller Drive.
Lieutenant-Colonel Allister Miller DSO OBE (1892–1951) was a South African aviation pioneer, who contributed significantly to both military and civil aviation in his country during the first half of the 20th century.
But what did Allister Miller actually do to receive this acclamation?
The original caption on the photograph: The end of an historic flight, Rio de Janeiro II, piloted by Major (later Lieut.-Col) Allister Miller, the pioneer of South African civil aviation, lies upended in a bunker on the old 17th fairway of the Port Elizabeth Golf Club on Wednesday, 7th November 1917. Major Miller, accompanied by Sgt-Mechanic Way, took off from Young’s Field Cape Town. Five hours, 18 minutes later flying at an average speed of 70 m.p.h., the plane touched down at the P.E. Golf Club – the first plane ever to land in the City. An estimated 5,000 people were waiting at the Club to witness the arrival, but they pressed so close when the plane touched down that Major Miller was forced to crash his craft into a fairway bunker to avoid the over-eager spectators. His action prevented what could have been a major tragedy. The only damage to the plane, fortunately, was a broken propeller which was presented to the Club as a memento of an historic occasion.
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