Warbirds Over Wanaka 06

[K5054NZ]

Again, sincere apologies for posting these pics sooooooooooo veeeeeeeeeeery looooooooooooong after the show, but after major public pleas I've decided to anyways!

In no particular order:

ZJ-JGS, still New Zealand's sole T-28 Trojan. Anyone keen to do a repaint of her? I've heard that capturing a radial just as it smokes is very difficult, so I feel quite proud of this pic!


Orion. I think the fin is specially painted for 3Sqn(?)'s 40th anniversary, or the P-3K's anniversary, or something. I;m not too sure, sorry!


F-111 - normally I despise modern jets. But the Pig? WOW! Love, man! And no pics of the dump and burn, I got that on video instead. I was amazed to feel the heat from it so far back from the crowdline!


Catalina. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. What more can I say? Oh yeah, that I was extremely disappointed to find flights cost about $200. I took about $80 down.


DH.90 Dragonfly - does anyone know of any FS Dragon? Anywhere? At all? Lana thinks it's pretty, I just like it.


Corsair - another favourite of my dearest girl. A mean performer, but I'm disappointed James Slade and co repainted her as a Yankee. Sigh.......a sad state when our sole airworthy Corsair isn't even in RNZAF colours.


The cockpit of one of the two elegant Chaikas. Go Polys! For fans of warbird trivia, this bird, #16, is the one the late Tom Middleton belly-landed at Wanaka in March '98 after an undercarriage fault. Two Chaikas flew with one Rata at this year's show.


The Bleriot XI. For a day job its owner/aviator, Mikael Carlsson, flies B737s. Like my mum said, he'd better remember which was which!


Allan Arthur's ex-RNZAF P-40N-1. All three P-40s at Wanaka this year had two things in common - all wore tiger mouths, and all were restored by the teams at Pioneer Aero Restorations and AVspecs. This one overflew my house on its way to Auckland after the show.


Several de Havillands lined up, way too far from the fence. It was great to see them take to the air - at Wanaka 04 I saw only ONE Tiger Moth. In a hangar. On the other side of the field. Away from the crowds.


The Messerschmitt Bf108, always the bad guy at Wanaka! It always puts on a great show, and even when it's landed defeated, it "fires off" a few gas rounds at the crowd!

More later once I can upload them. For now, enjoy!

[ardypilot]

Very nice K5054NZ, it was almost as if I was there too. Great documentation!

[FlyingKiwi]

Great photos! I'll have to upload some of my own at some point.

[K5054NZ]

Cheers guys! Kiwi, looking forward to seeing yours soon!

Okay, on with the final round!


Graeme Frew's Nanchang, currently for sale ($145,000, email him gfrew@attglobal.net). A Wanganui lad like myself, Graeme bases his 'chang at North Shore, and - more trivia - it was the very first Nanchang imported to the West. Recently repainted - thank God! Was very tatty for a coupla years after arriving from Oz.


Arthur Dovey's lovely Yak-3. Since the age of 9 I've been dying to see one of these fly, and was I disappointed? Heck no! A gorgeous little thing, you wouldn't have believed it was Arthur's first public display. Was restored for the late Ray Hanna, who sold it to Arthur a month or so before his untimely death.


Sigh. I'm not ashamed to say that a tear came from my eye as I saw TB863 in the aircraft park for the very last time at Wanaka. Just thinking about her last display chokes me up even now. I grew up watching videos of good ole FU-P, and I saluted her as she took off. Goodbye, old friend.


Thanks to Cbris, the "Mustang for the poor fulla" is now even more accessible, and here is her real-life counterpart. After seeing her at Omaka last year I was intrigued, and after Wanaka this Easter I was besotted! Such a pretty little thing, and so fast! Wowza!


The Polys rolling in to start their display. Just amazing.


This DH.89 is owned, unsurprisingly enough, by a group of Swiss-based Kiwi airline pilots, led by Gerald Grocott. It;s for sale if you're interested (sorry, I don't have any contact details!).


Sir Tim's Hurricane, P3351. I have a fine Mk.IIA for FS9, freeware - would someone be able to do a repaint in '351's clothes? Pretty please?


The Old Stick And Rudder Co's P-40E, one of three ex-RNZAF P-40s currently airworthy. A fantastic total seeing as only two others remain, but 66% of those airworthy are in Oz. Sniff.


I couldn't resist - MORE NANCHANGS!!!! How cool to see so many lined up.....even better to see them display.....superb to see them ALLOWED to do aeros at Wanaka!


To say I was disappointed that Dove Of Peace blew her engine before the show is an understatement. It would've been a highlight of the show for me to have seen our latest Mustang take to the air. Oh well, maybe Robert'll bring her to Omaka next year.


Finally, the awesomely beautiful Lavochkin La-9. Anyone who's flown Aeroplane Heaven's La-9 (thanks again, Ian, I owe you one!) will attest that she really is an amazing beast to fly. John Lamont always does a sterling job showing her off.



And that's it! Until Omaka, Easter '07, this is Zac and his Sony CyberShot signing off!