Hawke's Bay Aviation History 1906 to 1960 By Ian Granger

12th November 1928
Hawkes Bay Aeroclub was incorporated. The 2nd registered aeroclub in NZ.



16th November 1928
The first offical meeting of the club.
166 listed members.
First airfield located on corner of Bridge Pa Rd and Pakipaki Rd.
End of November a holding company was formed (The Hawkes Bay Aeroplane Company) for
the purpose of underwriting early set up costs and put the club into a position where it became
self supporting.
The company bought Cirrus Moth G NZAT and re registered it as ZK AAB. The aeroclub
named the moth “Heretaunga”.



1929:
Training in AAB began.
1st Instructor Tiny White
First aerial pageant
First PPL.s



1931
The Napier Earthquake.
The aeroclub makes its presence welcome in the aftermath. For three weeks the club had
eight to ten moths in the air every day,keeping communications alive delivering telegrams
and letters, doctors and nurses, medicine and distressed relatives, and running errands in to
the remote areas of Hawkes Bay. The practical application of aircraft to a community had
been well demostrated to Hawkes Bay in a most timery fashion.



1932
August 3. The aeorclub executive agree to purchase land for a new aerodrome – an 80 acre
block next to Hastings Golf course at Bridge Pa.



1933
January 20. The new club house was officially opened by Charles Kingsford Smith with the
official North Island air pageant arranged to mark the occasion.



1936
NZ Aerial Mapping purchase first plane – a Monospar SD25



1938
The Esk Valley floods again saw the club running relief operations this time for flood victims.

1939
Pilot training stepped up to provision trained pilots for the Air Force. Hawkes Bay recieved
an inital quota of 12 trainees, which was supplemented with an extra five pilots every eight
weeks.
The club linked with the Air Training Corps and in line with a national move agreed to give
the Government its planes in the event of war.
With the out break of war Hawkes Bay Aero Club effectively went into hibernation.
By March 1940, thirty two of the clubs trainees had joined the RNZAF, the RAAF or the RAF



1946
January. Club operations resume



1968
Hawkes Bay Skydiving Club was born
Hawkes Bay Gliding Club builds a hangar at Bridge Pa

1976
Full runway strip lighting installed


1978
NZ Aerial Mapping seal a 1000metre landing strip.