Some of South Africa's more distinguished sport flyers, Hansie Haarhof, Jacques Geldenhuys, Nick Turvey and Mike Van Ginkel, organised an aerobatic competition at Baragwanath Airfield in 1963. It was while he was an instructor at the Johannesburg Light Plane Club that he was drawn into aerobatics and was instrumental in the formation of the Baragwanath Aerobatic Club. From those beginnings where pilots competed mainly in Tiger Moths and Chipmunks, the first national championship was held in July later that year at Durban's Virginia Airport, in conjunction with the national flying championships. Durban cropspraying pilot and Korean war veteran Pikkie Rautenbach, was the first national aerobatic champion, flying a Tiger Moth and the championships drew no more than a few pilots. The Czechoslovakian built Zlin Trener was flown by Durban pilot, Max Meter and had only earlier that year been ferried from Prague. Judging was done by a panel of six judges, two from the Aero Club, two from the SAAF and two from the Division of Civil Aviation. Only one class of competition existed in these earlier years.

The second national event was held at Baragwanath Airfield, near Johannesburg, during 1964. A pilot who was later to become an aerobatic legend, Nick Turvey, won this championship, the first of no less than 8 national aerobatic titles. He pipped his pal, Mike Van Ginkel to the post, which he seemed to do at a number of contests. Both pilots competed in Tiger Moths. Once again this event was held in conjunction with the national flying championships and drew many spectators that watched in awe at these "stunt flyers" in their magnificent flying machines. Contest flights were formulated in terms of the CIVA requirements of the time. Nick was selected to compete at the World Championships held at Bilbao, Spain - the first time a South African had participated at this level.

In 1965 the championships were held at Brits and was once again won by Nick Turvey with partner Mike Van Ginkel in third place, both competing in an Emeraude. Pikkie Rautenbach finished in second place in his Tiger Moth.

The 1966 national championships were once again held at Durban's Virginia Airfield. Nick Turvey flying a Zlin 226 retained his title ahead of Pikkie Rautenbach in a Tiger Moth. Piet Bruyns of the Defence Flying Club, flying a Tiger Moth was placed third and Dennis Bishop of Durban in fourth place in his Citabria. Piet had a minor mishap en route to Durban when he had to force land the Tiger near Ladysmith after running short of fuel.  He nevertheless managed to get to the champs just in time for the start. At the conclusion of the contest, the chairman of the Aero Club, Graham Wulff announced that the selected Springbok team would not be participating at the World Championships to be held in Moscow that year. The official reason was that the South African entry was received too late by the organisers. However, the politics of the day was the more likely reason and would eventually have an impact on South African international participation until the 1990's.

Port Elizabeth was the venue of the 1967 championships and a disappointingly small number of pilots entered the event, with only 8 pilots competing in just 3 aircraft. Defending champion Nick Turvey was one of eight syndicate owners of the Zlin 226 used for the event. The other pilots who flew the Zlin were Mike Van Ginkel, Ewald Wessels, Len Marnewecke, Twisty Winternitz and Piet Nutt. Although all the pilots put up a good show in the Zlin, champion Nick Turvey again had the edge and won the championship for the fourth successive time, in spite of leaving out one manoeuvre in his Free sequence. Mike Van Ginkel finished in second place and Dennis Bishop in third, flying his Citabria. By popular acclaim, the hero of the championships was Vic Dobson of Baragwanath, who produced some remarkable manouevres in his Tiger Moth, including a four-point hesitation roll, usually regarded as "impossible" in a Tiger.

In 1968 the nationals were held at Baragwanath and the Springbok team to compete at the World Aerobatic Championships in Magdeburg, Germany, would be selected at it's conclusion. It was a closely fought contest with Nick Turvey beating the field of contestants. Mike van Ginkel once again finished in second place behind his business partner with Ewald Wessels and Piet Nutt in third and fourth places respectively. These four pilots were selected to attend the world championships, however, Piet Nutt was forced to withdraw from the team due to business commitments, allowing Twisty Winternitz to take his place in the team.

The venue for the 1969 championships, was Baragwanath Airfield. Nick Turvey won the title yet again, beating Vic Dobson (Tiger Moth) into second place and Piet Bruyns (Stampe) into third. Nick was forced to compete in the Defence Flying Club's Stampe after Piet Nutt had crashed his Zlin at an airshow in Ficksburg when the engine failed at low altitude. There were only five contestants at this competition. Vic Dobson lent his Tiger Moth to Scully Levin, who flew it in his first ever competition. Scully finished fifth in this contest, having attempted some radical manoeuvres for a Tiger Moth. Included in his sequence were an English bunt, which gobbled up 1000 feet, a rolling circle, which gobbled up another 1000 feet, a tailslide and a one turn negative snap on the down-line following a stall turn. The sequence that Nick flew consisted of 12 manouevres; tail slide with inverted recovery, inverted stall turn, inverted loop, three-quarter loop with half-roll and half negative flick roll, inverted figure 8 containing one half roll, one-turn inverted spin, loop containing a positive flick roll, stall turn with ascending vertical half roll and descending vertical half roll, cuban eight, vertical half roll pushover, stall turn with vertical descending negative flick roll, and rolling circle with 4 rolls to the inside. Vic Dobson was awarded the de Havilland Trophy for the best placing in a Tiger Moth.