On Saturday 05 July 2008 the weatherman did not properly close the freezer door in Kimberley. Despite two cold fronts in succession with a rapid down pour in the late afternoon the organisers presented a credible show to the members of the public who attended, despite very chilly conditions. It’s been seven years since Kimberley staged an airshow as the last airshow was presented in 2001.

History:

Paterson Bi-Plane No 2

It is hard to imagine a City with such a rich aviation history has actually seen so few airshows. In 2001, saw the very first fully fledged airshow with only a few aerial displays at historic occasions over the years e.g. the opening of the Pioneers of Aviation Museum near Kimberley Airport. The Diamond City was indeed a pioneer in South African military aviation. It hosted the very first flying training school for aviators of the Union of South Africa as early as 1913. The reason Kimberley hosted the first military aviation training institution is the facilitator of the training school, Cecil Compton Paterson setup the Paterson Aviation Syndicate with the help of the De Beers Diamond Group. This led to the establishment of the SA Aviation Corps which later led to the establishment of the South African Air Force (SAAF) in 1920 utilising equipment obtained under the Imperial Gift. Kimberley lost its advantage as a pioneer in military aviation as the first airfield for the SAAF was established at Zwartkops near Pretoria in 1921. However, members trained at Kimberley were part of the very first intake of the SAAF.  As a well equipped airport, military aircraft made use of the airport during the years of the Border War conflict. Regular visitors were the C-130s and C-160s which served as troop transports, to the large nearby SADF training facility of amongst others, 1 Maintenance Unit. Most SAAF aircraft were to use the airport as a stopover on transit flights and other training exercises during this period.