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Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
BUSINESS came to a standstill in Victoria Falls yesterday as vintage airplanes flew lowly around the resort town in a first ever tour of the continent by old model planes made in the 1920s and 1930s.

So magnificent was the sight of the planes with Travel Air 4000 — manufactured 88 years ago in 1928 —  stealing the limelight.

Travel Air is one of the oldest aviation companies that gave birth to most airlines operating today.

The newest plane in the fleet was made by the Russians 40 years ago for the Ethio-Somali War.

The flying tour started in Crete, Greece on November 11 2016 and will end in Cape Town, South Africa.

Organisers of the event say the expedition is meant to retrace the first African commercial aviation route that was mapped in the 1930s.

International tour and aviation companies, Prepare2Go and Inspiration Africa travel organised the tour, dubbed VintageAirRally Crete2Cape, which attracted 16 vintage airplanes.

It was meant to trace the 1931 Imperial Airways “Africa Route”, over 10 countries with 37 stop overs in 35 days.

Representing Prepare2Go, Mr Sam Rutherford said the tour was organised to celebrate the history of aviation in Africa as well as fundraise for conservation of vultures, an endangered species.

“This is a VintageAirRally2016 Crete2Cape tour to celebrate the history of aviation in Africa as we follow the first ever commercial airline route from Europe to Cape Town,” said Mr Rutherford.

He added: “The idea is also to raise money for the African vulture that’s facing extinction.”

Mr Rutherford said the planes were owned by the pilots who are flying an average of three hours a day.

Mr Bruno Vanden Bossche, of Inspiration Africa Travel said the planes move at 120 miles maximum speed per hour and only fly during the day but in cool temperatures mostly in the morning and late in the afternoon, depending on each destination.

One of the pilots, Captain Nicholas Oppergard, (67) who is flying a 1928 plane alongside his wife Lita, said they were amazed by the state of aviation facilities and equipment at Victoria Falls International Airport and the hospitality of aviation staff as well as members of the public.

Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe public relations manager Mrs Anna Julia Hungwe said the aviation authority was proud to be receiving such a delegation.

“As CAAZ we are proud to have hosted the air rally. We are here to take advantage of this event as we engage global organisations about our facilities such as Victoria Falls International Airport and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo in Bulawayo where they are going tomorrow,” she said.

“We are so humbled by the admiration they had of our state-of-the-art equipment and well trained staff and this is an opportunity for us to market our facilities.”

The fleet landed at Victoria Falls International Airport on Tuesday before taking off to Kazungula Airstrip yesterday morning where they would take off and land one after the other much to the excitement of the crowd.

In the afternoon after 2PM, they flew off for a tour of the Falls before landing at the airport where they will take off for Bulawayo this morning.

From Bulawayo the flying party will proceed to Botswana and finish the tour in Cape Town.

The crew began its tour in Greece, went to Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and then Zimbabwe. It will then proceed to Botswana and South Africa before the planes return to their respective countries by ship.

@ncubeleon