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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 19, 2014 9:59:53 GMT 12
As we draw towards the close of 2014 I thought it'd be nice to have a little thought about the achievements of both the aviation world and of this forum throughout the year.
What do you think have been:
- Best WONZ Forum Thread of the Year
- Best Photos seen of the Forum
- Most Stunning Things You Learned From the Forum This Year
- Best built up NZ-themed models seen on the Forum
- Best NZ Airshow of the Year
- Best Overseas Airshow of the Year
- Best Fly-in or similar event of the year
- Best Return to Flight of Restored Aircraft in NZ in 2014
- Best Ongoing Restoration That You've Followed Through 2014
- Best Aviation Film or Documentary You've Seen this Year
- 2014's Greatest Loss to NZ Aviation
- Favourite NZ Aircraft of the Year
- Best Aviation Company You've Dealt With
- Best Aviation Personality/ies of the Year
- Best Aviation Magazine of the Year
- Best Model Aircraft Release of 2014
- Best Aviation Books you've read in 2014
- Best Aviation Museum You've Visited in 2014
- Worst Aviation Event of the Year
- Overall Best Memory of NZ Aviation For 2014
You don't have to nominate something for every category if you can't think of some, but feel free to start offering your thoughts here...
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 19, 2014 10:27:12 GMT 12
Here are my thoughts.... - Best WONZ Forum Thread of the Year I'm thinking about this one, there have been so many good ones...- Best Photos seen of the Forum Again, so many great photos. Gavin Conroy's photos from Virginia Beach, USA, were great but his photos of Alan Peart in the Spitfire over the Auckland coastline take the award from me! - Best built up NZ-themed models seen on the Forum I have really liked seeing Wally Hicks' Revell Lockheed Ventura models.- Best NZ Airshow of the Year Sadly I cannot comment on this as I never got to any actual airshows this year  and only one air event that involved flying, which I'll mention later- Best Overseas Airshow of the Year Again i wasn't there but I definitely enjoyed very much all the coverage of the two Lancasters performing together all over Britain, and that has to surely be the greatest show on earth for 2014.- Best Fly-in or similar event of the year Never got to any - Best Return to Flight of Restored Aircraft in NZ in 2014 There hasn't been much on the warbird scene this year but I have to say how cool it has been to see the various Strikemasters coming back to life, and of course not restorations but seeing the new aeroplanes rolling out of TVAL has been cool, and also the fact that Graham Orphan's replica Fokker Dr.1 is now flying is neat too, making eight airworthy in NZ- Best Ongoing Restoration That You've Followed Through 2014 Following the Mosquito projects and visiting the workshops that are working on them always gives me a buzz. And it's great to see the progress on the Spitfire Mk. XIVe.- Best Aviation Film or Documentary You've Seen this Year Bomber Boys, a Canadian series from a few years back that I found on DVD. Excellent stuff.- 2014's Greatest Loss to NZ Aviation First and foremost for me are all the WWII veterans we've lost this year, many of them whom I'd met and some I'd gotten to know as friends. It's also sad to see NZ lose the Hawker Tempest project to Canada, but I hope the new owner has better luck with it.It's also sad to see the retirement of the RNZAF's Airtrainers.- Favourite NZ Aircraft of the Year Spitfire!- Best Aviation Personality/ies of the Year John 'JK' Kelly at NZ Warbirds for his excellent assistance in setting up our recent Forum Meet. Also Frank Parker and Doug Brooker for their brilliant assistance in setting up the veteran Spitfire flights.- Best Aviation Magazine of the Year New Zealand Aviation News- Best Model Aircraft Release of 2014 Tamiya 1/32 F4U-1D Corsair looks awesome- Best Aviation Books you've read in 2014 Hmm, so many... And lately I have been mostly reading NZ Army WWII autobiographies so I cannot think of a specific aviation book off the top of my head.- Best Aviation Museum You've Visited in 2014 MOTAT - they are going from strength to strength in their aviation displays. And also the Warbird Visitors Centre at Ardmore, a great museum!- Worst Aviation Event of the Year Armistice In Cambridge - a dire, dull, boring air display.- Overall Best Memory of NZ Aviation For 2014 Although I could not make it on the day, the event that saw Alan Peart and Jim Robinson once again fly in the Spitfire was so magic. I watched every video I could and looked at all the photos and feel as if I was there. It was an amazing idea from Larry, and briliantly pulled together by him, Doug, Frank and JK, and I am so proud to have been a part of it even though at the end of the day I wasn't able to attend. |
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Post by Bruce on Dec 19, 2014 11:59:46 GMT 12
- Best WONZ Forum Thread of the Year - Lots of them, But I quite enjoyed the percival aircraft photo thread - Best Photos seen of the Forum: Gavin's Virginia Beach pics - Most Stunning Things You Learned From the Forum This Year: The bits about the Maymorn Army camp / Maungaroa Air force stations. - Best built up NZ-themed models seen on the Forum - Biased, but I'm pretty proud of my scratch built Aerovan!  - Best NZ Airshow of the Year Only managed an Ardmore open day earlier in the year - that was good though - the debut of the NZ Vans RV team! - Best Overseas Airshow of the Year: Didnt get to any this year - Best Fly-in or similar event of the year - Black Sands Raglan! - Best Return to Flight of Restored Aircraft in NZ in 2014 - Best Ongoing Restoration That You've Followed Through 2014: The Otamatea Aviation academy's replica cub project, although the JEM avitaion Comper Swift is really interesting too. - Best Aviation Film or Documentary You've Seen this Year - 2014's Greatest Loss to NZ Aviation - Favourite NZ Aircraft of the Year - Best Aviation Company You've Dealt With: Jem Aviation at Omaka, supported our SAA courses in August. - Best Aviation Personality/ies of the Year - Best Aviation Magazine of the Year - Best Model Aircraft Release of 2014: Italeri 1/72 Short Sunderland III - Best Aviation Books you've read in 2014 - Best Aviation Museum You've Visited in 2014 AHC Omaka - Worst Aviation Event of the Year RNZAC northern regional competitions at Matamata - great people but the weather was horrible! - Overall Best Memory of NZ Aviation For 2014 Flying ZK-CKE to Kerikeri and back a few weeks ago for a family Christmas event. |
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and only one air event that involved flying, which I'll mention later
