Brian's place - Warbirds over Wanaka 2000 Page 1

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Warbirds over Wanaka 2000

It was as spectacular as promised. The I-16's were superb, the I-153's were wonderful (I want one!), the Hurricane was simply exquisite, and the *two* P-40's were an unexpected delight. The show itself was extremely well organised (they certainly don't skimp on the number of toilets provided, for example), and they coped well with the unexpected things (weather, a couple of non-arrivals).

The weather was lousy on Saturday, with some very cold rain squalls, and a low cloud base which interfered with the displays. Sunday was overcast and cold but generally a lot better. The only real disappointment was the non-arrival of the Hunter, due to comms problems. This is all a part of dealing with old aeroplanes, and the safety first attitude has to be admired. Anyway, hopefully it'll be available next time!

I came away with 192 photographs and about 80 minutes of video. What a nerd! It's taken me a long time to get around to making this page, real life just seems to get in the way of the Internet.

This time I've got three pages for Warbirds over Wanaka 2000:
Page 1 (this one!) covers the Hurricane, Crescos, P51's, P40's, Bleriot XI, Tummalisa,and Catalina.

The first of many stars of the show was the newly restored Hawker Hurricane Mk IIa. I was impressed the the "presence" of the Hurricane, it's a very purposeful looking aeroplane. Not sleek and sexy like the Spitfire, but very good looking all the same. I'd have one!

It put up a pretty impressive sort of a display for such a "new" aeroplane.

OK, so I did get a good shot of it. Pity about the exposure, then! This Mark II was originally built as an early Mark I, and has been restored in the colours it wore during the Battle of France.

...and the sound, well, what can you say about a Merlin? There's only one thing better, and that's two Merlins.

I've got quite a few more I-16 photo's, click here to see 'em or follow the link at the bottom of the page. Please note, this is a very graphics intensive page!

Here two engineers fit a hitherto unknown Klingon Cloaking device to the Hurricane's Radio mast. Or maybe it was a Video Camera.

The Hurricane and Spitfire XIV did a welded wing display, they looked like siamese twins at times.

<sigh>

Mikael Carlsson brought his original Bleriot MkXI all the way from Sweden. This is the same aircraft that successfully flew the English Channel on July 25th, 1999. This was a re-enactment of the original Bleriot crossing of 1909. See "Aeroplane Monthly" of sometime, I can't remember when, for details. Mikael Carlsson is a braver man than I am.

How on earth he manages to wave while he flies such such a low powered (and under-controlled, if you ask me) aircraft I have no idea!

He also brought his "TUMMALISA" with him. This sprightly little fighter-trainer was a real treat to see flying, mind you, so was the Bleriot. The Tigershmidt certainly gives it some scale. Quite a threatening sky in this photo.

The Crescos of Wanganui Aero Work made a welcome return, although I have a vague idea they were flying Fletchers last time. These things may not be rocket fast, but they're reasonably big and can turn on a dime - one of my favourite displays.

Good timing!

One of the Crescos made a very steep descent, either with his prop in reverse pitch, or threw it into reverse pitch as soon as he touched down.

Somewhere in that self-generated cloud in the lower picture is a few tonnes of agricultural aeroplane!

On the Sunday the AFC's P-51D appeared in different colours, they evidently repainted the thing overnight! A very good trick.

The P-51's, as always, were extremely well flown and sounded so good. Like I say, two Merlins are better than one. Especially Packard Merlins.

I must admit that I didn't think that there was going to be any P-40's this year, so it was a more than pleasant surprise to find two.

The Catalina has been repainted in RNZAF colours this year, somehow I failed to get a single shot of it flying. Nevermind, the video came out well!

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