Classic Fighters Omaka pics

Top Stuff Turbo mate,
Funny enough I have just read about Brough Superiors in the book, ” R.A.F. Biggin Hill ” by Graham Wallace.

It seem’s to be about 1938 when Hitler’s mob are on the move, and No. 601(County of London) Auxiliary Squadron flew in to Biggin Hill to make it it’s War time Station.

At this time the R.A.F. were still flying Demon’s and Gauntlet’s, and rivalry between the regular’s and the ‘weekend playboys’ was fierce.

Relation’s were not improved when the ‘playboys’ beat 32 Squadron at it’s favorite sport, polo played on old motor bicycles, by using a ‘stable’ of brand-new Brough Superiors.

Thank’s again Turbo(Chris) for the great photo’s mate.(been reading heap’s and have not caught up with a lot of the thread’s as yet.)

Cheer’s all, Tally Ho! Ho! Phil.

Hi Ryan,

Welcome to the forum. It is great to see someone from the Croydon Aircraft Company here, you guys have done a wonderful job over the years in ressurecting many fine vintage types back to the skies. I hope to someday get down and visit Mandeville. I hope you’ll be able to keep us all informed of any news from down your way. Are there any projects nearing completion at the moment? I’m sure our English friends will also be keen to hear of the activities of you and your colleagues.

Cheers
Dave

Hi everyone,

It was a fantastic show as always, and it seems Omaka had the pick of the weather for most of the country that weekend.

Just for everyones info the photo with the Proctor and the Dominie, the other rather attractive blue aircraft is a DH90 Dragonfly not a Dragon (the Dragonfly is often confused with the Dragon or the Dom).

Please keep the photos coming, they are great.

It was a shame that we couldnt have had a Tiger Moth, Moth Minor, Gipsy Moth and the Dragon to complete the early DH lineup.

We enjoyed bringing the aircraft up from Mandeville, as we dont often get the chance for such a nice public outing.
We hope to make it a much more regular occurance.

Ryan
Croydon Aircraft Company
Mandeville NZ

The Thunder beast really moves !!
Mind you the smaller size does give a greater illusion of speed.

TNZ

You sure about that?

From the info sheet (available from the Thunder Mustang website):

Max. level speed @ sea level: 326kts
Cruise @ 75% power: 300kts

😉

and here’s another shot of the “Spit” for you Daz, …oops, I’m in for it now…….

TNZ

Yes that’s exactly right, Daz.

The Thunder beast really moves !!
Mind you the smaller size does give a greater illusion of speed.

Here’s a big “gull-winged wind generator”. Was hard to hang onto my sunnies and camera while taking this shot……. 😮

TNZ

Cheers for those, Turbo. The Thunder Mustang is, IIRC an approximately 75% scale replica, with a Falconer V-12 powerplant, and composite construction. When I say approximately 75%, I think the fuselage is 75%, the wings 65% to give better penetration through the air (similar idea used on the Spit 26.)

It, and the Titan T-51 are both two-seaters, although the Titan uses a rather less powerful engine, a Rotax 912 I think (from memory).

Oops, think I might get told off for putting replica’s here in this forum….

TNZ

Also of interest was a semi-completed Titan Mustang.

Very nicely made !!!

TNZ

Here’s one for you Daz

A Mk 26 Spitfire !!

😉

Cheers
Chris

Great stuff – I’ll try and convince my other half to go to NZ someday… 😉

Cheers Dave.

The Thunder Mustang’s V-12 even sounded similar to a Merlin, albeit higher-pitched.
Beautifully made and finished, not sure about the colour scheme though…

TNZ

Chris has posted a few more of his photos on our New Zealand forum. Please feel free to come and take a look.

Especially of interest is the Thunder Mustang on this page, WOW!!!
http://rnzaf.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=Airshows&action=display&num=1111964169&start=15

OFMC Fan, Last month Garth Hogan told us that he was keeping his P40 based at Ardmore. It was only Charles Darby’s share that sold, as you probably know. Garth still half owns it.

In answer to your query, OFMC appear to be looking after the “French” Spitfire TE 184, although it hasn’t flown since it arrived at Duxford about a year ago. There is also the Harvard. A pale shadow of the Breitling years but that’s good news for your guys. I must say I was very impressed with the range of classic types i saw when I was down there 2 years ago. The ratio per head of population is astonishing. I guess I could be biased as I have a Kiwi-built aircraft (an AESL Airtourer). Great little machine but recently orphaned by our CAA. I hope the NZ CAA can help us out on Type Certification.

Lovely shots there almost makes me think 26 hours on a plane could be worth it, thats interesting about Ray Hanna building a new hanger I have always had a feeling in the next few years things may be shut down this side and reopened down there but I think the tought of losing MH434 could cause me to go and Handcuff myself to it

Dave M2
Is the Hogan P-40 now based in Mastetton ,do you know? Have not seen it at Ardmore for sometime.

OFMC Fan

Could well be, he flew down the Hogan P-40N on Thursday.

Dave

Turbo NZ
One of your pictures shows a side view of Dr.1 ZK-FOK. The pilot is John Lanham , correct?

OFMC Fan

GO NEW ZEALAND GO!!! 😎

Alex