Maximilian
JOHN
Ludwick
WESTON
1872-1950
Pioneer Aviator and Overland
Traveller
John Weston’s life is told – but there are gaps and mysteries.
This site is dedicated to changing that. And you can help uncover the full story!
Maximilian John Ludwick Weston, better known as John Weston, led a remarkably full and adventurous life. An eclectic engineer, he was a pioneer aviator, farmer, family man, soldier, globetrotter – and an overland traveller in a motorcaravan that he designed and built himself. Some even believed he was a spy, and Weston himself claimed to know Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill!
He is famed as a pioneer of flight in South Africa. His biographer, Hannes Oberholzer, described him as the “Grandfather of Aviation in South Africa” [1]. A more recent author titles him “South Africa’s First Aviator” [2]. Today, he continues to be celebrated as the founder of the Aeronautical Society of South Africa which hosts a biennial memorial lecture in his honour [3].
Here, Weston’s life is told – but there are gaps and mysteries. This website is dedicated to changing that. And you can help uncover the full story!
All comments and contributions are welcome.
Email rcandjwwebmaster@yahoo.co.uk
It will not escape the reader’s attention that the author of this story is standing on the shoulders of giants.
And one In particular must be acknowledged: Dr JJ Oberholzer aka Hannes Oberholzer, Director of the National Museum of South Africa from 1969 to 1985 and afterwards
Chief Director of the Durban Museums.
