Alpine Fighter Collection piccies

Damn fine !

Last one

And another

Originally posted by Aileron Roll
From memory this show produced a great formation display with Tim Wallis in the Spitfire and Trevor Bland in the Mustang, have never seen it repeated !…. shame !

I found some photos of that display. Not terribly good photos (I never prfess to being a good aviation photographer, just a keen one)

Sadly I shant be getting down to Ohakea. Tomorrow I am filming an interview for my documentary on the wartime RNZAF. It would have been nice to get back down there, but oh well.

It has been ten years since I left the RNZAF and I only spent a few months at Ohakea. Those names you mention are not familiar I’m afraid. I hated Ohakea – a cold, wet, desolate hole. However, nowadays i do think of those times there with nostalgia, and having read books and talked with many veterans about the station during World War Two, I have warmed to like it. Imagine that place then, two P40 OTU’s, a Hudson OTU, and numerous other schools for gunnery, etc. It must have been a Warbird heaven!

Dave,

have just been reading there is an open day at Ohakea tomorrow, P40 attending !, will you get to that one ?

Have seen many a good show there ! Whilst in Palmerston had many a good night in the mess also ! As a new B Cat I once did a BFR for Jim Rankin (all round good guy, I think still the RNZAFs only current A1), In return he put me in the Macchi Sim for a blast, great fun, but I crashed at least twice ! Another great guy who was very supportive of us civi types was Dave Forrest. He had flown an exchange tour with the RAF flying the Hawk. He told me one night that he had flown a Hawk into a Royal Navy base for an airshow and was told by some Air Marshall “you get in there faster and lower than any Navy pilot” ….. which he did…. he got a phone call shortly afterwards ” well done, but not that low next time” !

Yup, the Masterton one is still definitely happening.

Called “Wings over Wairarapa”. Gets better every year.

Really sad they blew that one !

Is the Masterton Airshow still a happening thing !

I went to the show there I think in 97, outstanding show. Mark Hanna did an incredible performance in the P40, but im told not as good as the show he put on whilst leaving on the Monday !

I understand that the major criticism arose because the organisers (Tainui Maori Tribe and some group from the airport) decided to reneg on paying for many of the aircraft who’d displayed there. Some pilots lost thousands of dollars I heard.

Their reason was because the attendance was nowhere near what they’d expected. And in turn the reason for low attendance was because in the week prior to the show the organisers cancelled that Russian Sukhoi 27 display team (Black Knights?) which they’d been advertising for months ahead. And the reason they cancelled was because they decided they didn’t want to pay for a couple of hotel rooms for the pilots.

It was as petty as that. They’d have made a packet if they’d done it right – plus they would probably have not lost the big airshow spot to Omaka. The original plan was to make Warbirds Over Waikato the alternate year Easter show to Wanaka, which would have been great for us North Islanders. There were even plans for a proper aviation museum at Tamahere (right next to Hamilton Airport). Sadly never happened.

There has never been a proper warbirds airshow in Hamilton since – just aeroclub style shows (ie boring).

Dave

yip I remember that one also. That was a great airshow, lots of good stuff and well run. From memory there was alot of critisism about the show, don’t really know why !

Had my first sit in a Mustang there also, Trevor Bland showed me over 2415, always loved his P51 displays !

Originally posted by Dave Homewood
Yes, and do you remember the excellent, beautiful display called ‘Knights of the Air’, where Sir Tim Wallis and Sir Kenneth Hayr flew together? Tim in the Spit and Ken in the Yak52. It amazed me to see the two very different types fly so well together.

Sir Kenneth was a great pilot and his loss was a huge loss to Airshows in general,Sadly i was there at Biggin Hill when he was lost.

Yes, and do you remember the excellent, beautiful display called ‘Knights of the Air’, where Sir Tim Wallis and Sir Kenneth Hayr flew together? Tim in the Spit and Ken in the Yak52. It amazed me to see the two very different types fly so well together.

From memory this show produced a great formation display with Tim Wallis in the Spitfire and Trevor Bland in the Mustang, have never seen it repeated !…. shame !

Great Pics again !

I remember the Warbirds over Waikato show well. We were all having a beer at the Aero Club on the Friday night as the sun went down, when Tim Wallis and Tom Middleton each went up for abit of practise in the Spitfire, have never seen a show like it !

Gimme about 11 days and I shall post some more AFC piccies…:D 😀 😀 😀 😀

Last one for now…

Cheers Chris, here’s another

VVRRROOOMMM….The AFC’s chief engineer Ray Mulqueen warms up the engine

Nice pics, Dave

Corsair, Easter airshow in Hamilton 1995