Sunday, March 22, 2009
Whenuapai Airshow 21 March 09
Great weather for this show attracted thousands of people, all who had to enter the airfield through one road, causing traffic chaos at the end as 20,000 cars all tried to leave at once. But the weather was great and there was a surprising variety of planes.
The P51 Mustang makes a very nice noise, having the same Merlin engine as the Spitfire. Hear it here.
Aerobatics by Yak 52s, Russian trainers, and this MXR Technologies MX2.
The Corsairs were aircraft carrier planes, and the wings are bent to give prop clearance for the big propellor, needed to handle the 4000 Horsepower. They were flown in WWII in the Pacific.
Warbird's Dakota in its new livery lifts the tailwheel and a DH Dominie. The Dominies were NZ passenger planes in the 1950s but were never very popular as they would not fly on one engine.
There was a huge collection of Warbirds planes, some like the Corsair and the Russian jet that I had not seen before.
I loved this intrepid lady skywalker. Swing the prop and off into the blue yonder on the Tiger Moth! Thank you for the applause, now where's my comb for all this knotted hair?
The NZ Air Force P3 Orion does all our long distance search & rescue. These are based on the Lockheed Electra that used to fly the Tasman in the 1960's. The bit at the back holds radar gear.
The NZ Air Force's Airtrainers put on a good show of formation flying.
The Army demonstrated their Iroquois choppers with a mock raid, attacking some mercenaries in a blue Datsun ute as well as having the novel idea of lifting up a people carrier to a great height and dropping it.
Helen's Boeing 757 was very impressive, this is one of two that NZ use for military and government transport, except when John Key wanted them to move NZers out of Bangkok they were both away in USA being serviced.
The US Airforce C17 Globemaster was huge and very manoeverable. These fly in and out of Antarctic.
C130 Hercules put on a good show, (once they got it started).
Highlight of the day was the Australian airforce F18 Hornet running through some extreme aerobatics. The leading aerofoil seems to be stalling in the last two pictures, and the first one. Look at those afterburners - what a noise!
The P51 Mustang makes a very nice noise, having the same Merlin engine as the Spitfire. Hear it here.
Aerobatics by Yak 52s, Russian trainers, and this MXR Technologies MX2.
The Corsairs were aircraft carrier planes, and the wings are bent to give prop clearance for the big propellor, needed to handle the 4000 Horsepower. They were flown in WWII in the Pacific.
Warbird's Dakota in its new livery lifts the tailwheel and a DH Dominie. The Dominies were NZ passenger planes in the 1950s but were never very popular as they would not fly on one engine.
There was a huge collection of Warbirds planes, some like the Corsair and the Russian jet that I had not seen before.
I loved this intrepid lady skywalker. Swing the prop and off into the blue yonder on the Tiger Moth! Thank you for the applause, now where's my comb for all this knotted hair?
The NZ Air Force P3 Orion does all our long distance search & rescue. These are based on the Lockheed Electra that used to fly the Tasman in the 1960's. The bit at the back holds radar gear.
The NZ Air Force's Airtrainers put on a good show of formation flying.
The Army demonstrated their Iroquois choppers with a mock raid, attacking some mercenaries in a blue Datsun ute as well as having the novel idea of lifting up a people carrier to a great height and dropping it.
Helen's Boeing 757 was very impressive, this is one of two that NZ use for military and government transport, except when John Key wanted them to move NZers out of Bangkok they were both away in USA being serviced.
The US Airforce C17 Globemaster was huge and very manoeverable. These fly in and out of Antarctic.
C130 Hercules put on a good show, (once they got it started).
Highlight of the day was the Australian airforce F18 Hornet running through some extreme aerobatics. The leading aerofoil seems to be stalling in the last two pictures, and the first one. Look at those afterburners - what a noise!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
St. Patrick's Day, Auckland
We enjoyed the big parade, but then down came the rain and we left after one lot of damp Irish dancing.
Some very fine musicians.
Our Rose of Tralee.
St Patrick was there.
One wet dance, before my view was blocked by umbrellas.
Some very fine musicians.
Our Rose of Tralee.
St Patrick was there.
One wet dance, before my view was blocked by umbrellas.
