Centenary of Miller’s pioneer flight to PE commemorated
HISTORIANS and art lovers gathered at the GFI Art Gallery in Park Drive last night to celebrate the centenary of the dramatic arrival of Major Allister Mackintosh Miller in Port Elizabeth – the first landing of an aircraft in the city.
A piece of the wooden propeller of his Royal Aircraft Factory BE-2e, which is on display at the gallery, is all that remains in the city to mark the historic landing on November 7 1917.
It was the first flight to Port Elizabeth – from Cape Town.
This was the flight that heralded the start of the civil aviation industry in Port Elizabeth, according to South African Air Force Museum curator in Port Elizabeth, Captain Mark Kelbrick.
“At the time, there was no airfield and the Royal Aircraft Factory BE-2e landed at the PE Golf Club,” Kelbrick said.
“It dipped its nose into one of the bunkers, breaking its propeller.
“That propeller is the only remaining part of the oldest aircraft in the country.”
Kelbrick said Miller had later gone on to start Union Airways, which later became South African Airways
“Because of his action in World War 1, he was instrumental in the recruiting of 2 000 South Africans [to train as pilots] to fight in the war.
“When those guys came back, they formed the backbone of the South African Air Force,” he said.
The art gallery is unique in the country, and possibly the world, in that it houses a corporate collection devoted to the science of aviation.
It also houses the complete collection of 150 paintings and sketches featured in Ronnie Belling’s book, A Portrait of Military Aviation in South Africa, published in 1989.
PE Golf Club president Bernhard Nagel was at the gallery last night.
“The broken propeller is the only remains of the first aircraft that landed in dramatic fashion at the golf club and I am here to represent the club,” he said.