Flypast at the 1920 summer olympics

[Genghis the Engineer]

Whilst researching something else, I came across some references to the 1920 summer olympics. Apparently it was the first olympics to have a flypast, although it was apparently "not official".

This got me wondering what aircraft that might have been? Looking at what was around in Belgium in 1920 suggests that it might have been Avro 504s - there was a military training school at what's now Limburg airport 100km away from the stadium in Antwerp. But I can find nothing that gives any clearer information that would confirm or deny that guess.

Does anybody know anything more detailedabout this little snippet of aviation history?

(For general interest, the reason I came across this is that Flt.Lt. Herbert Carmichael Irwin, who died as captain of the R101 in October 1930, placed 12th in the 5000m final at the 1920 games. He was also Irish and RAF champion in the 1 and 4 mile race. It's backstory for a broader research into the loss of the R101 and all that built up to that.)

G

[DaveReidUK]

This page:

http://antwerpolympics.bloooogspot.co.uk/ (remove the extraneous "o"s - PPRuNe doesn't like links to you-know-where)

contains a photo captioned "Morane Saulnier at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics" and there is indeed what appears to be an Avro 504 in the background.

Bryan Pinkall's Olympics site suggests that the flyover was unofficial: https://bryanpinkall.bloooogspot.co.uk/2012/07/1920-summer-olympic-opening-ceremony.html (https://bryanpinkall.********.co.uk/2012/07/1920-summer-olympic-opening-ceremony.html)

[Genghis the Engineer]

Thanks for that Dave - makes sense of my guesswork. The same training "Group" of three squadrons that was operating the 504Ks in 1920 was also operating Marane Saulnier ARs, which is what appears to be in that photograph.

You can just imagine the military flying school in post occupation Belgium deciding to simply go and fly over what was, compared to all modern standards, a very low key Olympics (apparently about 20,000 people attending the opening ceremony, and some - although by no means all - of the photographs I've found online show virtually empty stands).

G

[Allan Lupton]

I was surprised to see that, within a year of the Treaty of Versailles being signed, anyone had the will to organise Olympic Games, let alone in Antwerp which had fallen (after a siege) as early as October '14 and was occupied for the duration. At least in 1948 London had three years to recover from war and had never been occupied.

I'm sure Genghis has the right idea about the casual way "they" would have just gone and flown over if someone had had the idea.