Page 96 - KBHA Bulletin 10

93

Weston’s energy and drive led to the formation of the Aeronautical Society of South
Africa in 1911, and also the John Weston Aviation Company of South Africa which did

much to popularise flight in the country by touring the main centres and offering flights
to the public. At the time he described aeroplaning as “a kind of cross between a motor-

car and a tightrope performance, that is, so far as the aeronaut is concerned.” One of his

passengers at Turffontein Racecourse in Johannesburg on 5 July 1911 was the actress
Cressie Leonard who recalled: “I had dressed for the part in a close-fitting jersey

costume, with no motor scarves to vex the propeller . . . At last, as sunset waned and the
photographers began to cease from troubling, I ascended the chair of execution. The

biplane quivered with terrific energy; at last, bursting its bonds, it dashed forward and
away. A rushing mighty wind, a feeling of entire mental detachment from everything

mundane – that was what I felt. It seemed that we were the first that ever burst into this

limitless ocean, cold air that for a million years had awaited its conqueror ….“ (Readers
Digest, 1981).

Aviation Fortnight – Cape Town: December - January 1911 - 12

In December 1911 press announcements drew public attention to a forthcoming
Aviation Fortnight to be held at Kenilworth from 21 December to 3 January.

Cape Times: 2 November, 1911.

AN AVIATION FORTNIGHT
_________________

FOR CAPE TOWN
_____________

Two of the World’s Famous Flyers
____________

In connection with the aviation meeting during the New Year and Christmas
holidays, which the Publicity Association has arranged with Captain Livingstone, two
well-known English aviators in the persons of Messrs. C. Compton Paterson and E. F.
Driver will arrive by the mail steamer on Tuesday next. Mr. Compton Paterson is the
leading biplane flier in England, while Mr. Driver distinguished himself in the recent