The highlights of the day were obviously the earsplitting RAAF F-111 with it’s trademark “dump and burn” along with Doug Brooker’s law-of-physic-defying MX-2 aerobatic display!
Returning home on the DAK, I now have 338 new photographs sitting on my harddrive, a small selection of which I’ve posted below… I ran out of batteries twice unbelievably, and all though these shots are nothing compared with ‘the pros’, I hope you all enjoy flicking through them anyway.
1. Sunrise at 4,500 feet:
2. ‘Those fake looking white clouds in flight sim are REAL!” quotes HardCorePawn as we pass Mt Taranaki on our right wing:
3. As we approached Ohakea, we dived for the runway and hit full throttle, before banking down to the South to rejoin the circuit:
4. Down on the tarmac, there’s a RNZAF Strikemaster! I had no idea there were any of these around anymore- shows how poor my NZ aviation history is…
5. WTH, a non-mothballed Skyhawk! I thought they had all been wrapped in plastic at Woodbourne but I guess this one was left over at the Ohakea museum before it was recently closed down.
6. I saw the RAAF F-111 last year at Whenuapai, but forgot how mean the profile of this fighter looks head on!
7. RNZAF C-130 parked up, much less glossy than the Singaporean Herc around the corner:
8. Inside the cockpit of the mentioned Singaporean Herc, no updated avionics here, although the pilot said they plan to within the next few years like our airforce. The six man crew will be flying back to their home city in three days time, a 20 hour flight stopping at Richmond and Darwin on the way.
9. Whop-Whop-Whop, the Huey display team show off some impressively precise maneuvers:
10. The P3 Orion is one of the fastest prop’s around, hard to catch it in my camera frame:
11. Captain Jeff Cooper takes the empty DAK up for a spin in front of the crowd proving its amazing handling abilities:
12. Taxing back to the stand for a scenic flight with the New Zealand flag flying out the captains window:
13. The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly:
14. The most awkward looking aircraft on display, but the boisterous roar of the Pratt & Whitney radial makes up for its gawky appearance:
15. No point posting any photos of the Yakrobatic air displays as my zoom is too inferior to generate decent results. However I caught this Yak taxing in past the crowd line after they had finished their performance:
16. Ditto with the L-39 Albatross- first time I’d ever seen one too, a very quick machine:
17. The Vampire flew alongside the Albatross, hard to believe it is made of wood!
18. The Red Checkers formation take off:
19. A single Airtrainer over the crowdline, this zoomed out shot was a mistake but I like the resultant proportions of it:
20. The “Spaghetti burst”
21. Stationary after covering the crowd in smoke from the ‘burnout’ manoeuvre:
22. What we’d all been waiting for, the mighty F-111:
23. After a low-level high speed pass, the pilot inverted the jet and did it again:
24. The Moneyshot!
Dedicated to Jarred ‘HardCorePawn’ Yates and Zac ‘K5054NZ’ Yates for lending me their spare AA batteries after my camera died at a critical moment in the show! And also to Keagan ‘ZK-KAG’ Gaarkeuken for the multi-shot tip where I set my camera to take five quick snaps at one click of the trigger to make sure I got at least one goodie, Thanks heaps guys!
25. Taxing past the crowd after a fantastic show, they honestly got the crowd roaring!
26. Group photo!
From the left: Myself, Alex, ‘HardCorePawn’, ‘Bandit’, ‘Choppernut’ and ‘K5054NZ’. We also met Derek, aka Spongebob206 and his family for a fleeting moment, but didn’t manage to find him among the crowd later
27. Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu as seen from 7,500 feet on the return flight:
28. Back at Ardmore where it all began:
I also have a few videos from various take-off’s and landings in the DC-3 though out the day which I’ll upload when I have time.
Thanks for browsing- leave comments if you wish
That DNB shot is superb! And the Airtrainer shot just about shows how close they came to the display line.
