Historic air race ready for take off

AFTER two years of postponements, the Serpentine Air Race will finally celebrate one-hundred years with a special event on Sunday, 20 March.

Tiger Moth biplanes will compete in the sky, and visitors and enthusiasts will be able to check out historical displays and an aerobatic show.

The event commemorates Australia’s first official aerial derby, held in 1920 as part of the Second Peace Loan raising money for the repatriation and care of World War I soldiers and nurses.

East Loddon Historical Society historian Mary Davidson said the committee is very excited to finally hold the event, and the canola farm turned airfield in Serpentine is ready.

“While the pilots are off competing in the air race, there’ll be other planes in the sky doing all their daredevil aerobatics,” she said.

“There’ll be aeroplanes flying all afternoon, the Royal Air Force Roulettes are going to be doing a fly through and they’ll have a couple of exhibition planes on display.”

The race itself will see pilots fly over 110 kilometres from Serpentine to Melbourne.

“One of the contestants in the air race is a plane from the RAF 100 squadron, their historic aeroplane squadron,” Ms Davidson said.

“They’ll have one competing, and we’ve also got an aeroplane competing that was in the August 1995 event that recognised the 75th anniversary.”

Visitors can witness historic vehicles including a Grumman Avenger, a CAC Wirraway and a T-28 Trojan in the air show.

Ms Davidson said all profits will be shared with Bendigo Legacy.

“They’re carrying on what started 100 years ago,” she said. “These days we’ve still got soldiers suffering from the trauma of war in any capacity.”

The event will run from 9am until 5pm, depending on weather, with food trucks and marquees available.

Tickets are available at serpentineairrace.com.au and Ms Davidson said the more people that book early, the better prepared organisers can be, with the possibility of more planes if numbers are strong.