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Post by Peter Lewis on Mar 23, 2009 20:18:10 GMT 12
Despite what I intended (and wrote earlier) I did end up going to Whenuapai on 'show day', albeit briefly. I scored a free family pass for my clean-up efforts the previous weekend, and Mr Three-year-old was emphatic about seeing a friends just-restored 1930 Rolls Royce that was part of the car display. We arrived at the gates at 9am, so we had little trouble getting in. The two aircraft that interested me most were the recently restored Boeing A75N-1 ZK-BWR: and the 'new' Yak-52 ZK-YKA (the registration is just visible painted underneath the tailplane): The Rolls-Royce did have to be inspected and approved by he-who-must-be-obeyed: By leaving at 11am to make the departure for our boat trip we avoided the crowds. Of course this meant that we missed most of the aerial displays, but hey you can't have everything.
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Post by Kereru on Mar 23, 2009 20:31:09 GMT 12
Aha yes it is funny sometimes what wives will ask, Heather my wife asked why do they call it wing walking when all they do is stand there? I said times have changed and they have to be OSH compliant so they must wear the harness. ;D Almost forgot these ones and anyone know if Kevin was amongst them as I could not hear the PA where I was standing. Cheers
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 23, 2009 20:37:53 GMT 12
I thought that was a new Yak, I noticed the paintwork and thought I hadn't spotted it before. And yes the new Stearman looked lovely. It sounded great when it took off. Great photo of the Rolls with the little chap too, he'll be mighty pleased with that shot I'm sure.
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Post by stu on Mar 23, 2009 20:43:01 GMT 12
Really impressed by the quality and variety of photos and videos, keep 'em coming. I've put together a "highlights" package on YouTube. With a 10 minute limit, it was hard deciding what to leave out and I think some more videos will be on order for those displays that were short changed ..... It was nice to see a brief encore performance on Sunday. We were traveling back from brunch in Kumeu and saw the Vampire doing a what I assume was a circuit as well as a formation of 3 aircraft to the west that I couldn't quite make out (driving on SH16 taking precedence to trying to id aircraft). Continued on past Whenuapai and, on a whim, stopped on the side of the road to have a last look at the C-17. About an hour later we were getting into the car at Glenfield Mall when the Vampire roared overhead again much to the excitement of assembled Sunday shoppers and then finally, around 2pm, there was a display over the harbour by the Harvards. Sadly the neighbors trees have grown up considerably and blocked most of the view ..... A couple of positive notes to come out of the day that I didn't get around to mentioning in my earlier posts. My wife thoroughly enjoyed the day - even though she's terrified of flying - and suggested that we should look at going to Wanaka (or Omaka) at a future date Also, the stylish " we've only got one size" 75 Squadron polo shirt purchased at a very reasonable price from the nice Australian man at the display Hornet fits my ample frame perfectly ... well, kind of positive as far as I'm concerned ;D Cheers, Stu. p.s. like the idea for future forum meets - and good to meet you and your wife Marcus as well as Damon and Lester (I'd still like to swap office views with you Lester).
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 23, 2009 21:01:27 GMT 12
The three in formation you saw might have been Yaks. There were three flying round in formation well after the show on Saturday.
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Post by mumbles on Mar 23, 2009 21:54:23 GMT 12
Finally able to get some shots up! What a great show, well worth the trip. I drove up from Wellington (Hutt Valley to be precise) on Friday, and at about Mercer saw one of the teams practicing out to the east. I made a quick stop at Mangere to get reacquainted with some of the heavies you don't normally see round my place, and caught a couple of Emirates departures, namely an A340 and B777 In a nice piece of luck, my visit to Mangere coincided with a certain Masterton based Warbird transiting the airspace en route to Whenuapai I shot about 300 images on show day, and haven't properly scrutinised them all yet, or engaged in some culling (I'm shooting about a 1 in 5 keep/discard ratio at the moment). I made a slight alteration to my photography technique for this show (after a moment of realisation that there were a few things I hadn't been doing quite right previously), and it made a huge difference to the results. A big thanks to LesterPK for the tip about display center. I found a spot pretty much on it at 0900 and stayed the rest of the day. Here are the standouts from the first editing session: I arrived early, and was parked up and exploring the static by 0815. I was confident the cloud would burn off eventually, but it did make the morning session a little dark. Here is my first 'aerial' shot of the day, and the lucky result of the fastest SLR lens change I think I have ever managed. I was shooting the RAAF J model Herc with short lens on when this one started its takeoff roll. I would have ignored it if I hadn't noticed the propellor tip vortices: The 'Angel' shot from a different perspective than we have seen before: The Harvard / Airtrainer formation. Never quite clicked for me just how different in size the two aircraft are until I saw this: The Corsair dramatically sneaking out from underneath the MX-2 display: The Mustang display entry, how cool was that? Note the shadow on the grass! C-17 touchdown. Very impressive display for such a large aircraft. I'm really enjoying the various Iroquois displays at the moment, especially as they won't be around for much longer. Finally a decent head on shot of the Spaghetti break, its only taken about a dozen attempts! ;D The Hornet display was just mint, I loved every minute of it, especially the noise. I saw my first Hornet display 22 years ago, and it still hasn't gotten old. Like the MX-2, the spectacle of a really good high performance aircraft display doesn't age with repeated viewing. This was pretty much the same routine I saw at Richmond two years ago, and just as good. In addition to the energetic stuff close to the crowd, I like the extensions away from the crowd (like the inverted one after the takeoff) where you can visibly see the acceleration of the aircraft. One of the best solo aircraft demonstrations I have seen, without a doubt. I liked how the hump in the Whenuapai runway allowed the Hornet to taxi sedately past me and disappear, only to return in full noise beast mode: Climbing from takeoff with the undercarriage still retracting. You can just see one of the mainwheels underneath the aircraft. Lungs and heart vibrating from the noise, silly grin on face while my eardrums try to shake hands in the middle of my head. Awesome The vortices just make the thing even more dynamic. This display was worth the trip on its own. More to come as I get some more editing done
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Post by mumbles on Mar 23, 2009 22:15:16 GMT 12
My Wife would like to know what type of plain the first one is... the "Grey one - or is it silver"? SIGH So little time....... Somehow I have managed to get my totally non aviation oriented wife to the point where she can tell the difference between a Mustang and a Kitthawk, and a Harvard and a Yak. She can also identify a Skyhawk by sight. She gets quite excited about this, its very cute! On Saturday I spent most of my time on the line adjacent to a great family who couldn't tell the difference between an Orion and a B757, but were laughing and having fun and enjoying the show anyway. It was quite fun to be part of, especially as they held my place during the lunch break while I did some exploring. Plus I got to answer a few questions and look all wise and knowledgable and stuff
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Post by bazzaboeing on Mar 23, 2009 22:54:00 GMT 12
Great photos guys and thanks for posting them. Just as an aside Mumbles the Emirates A340-500 you took a shot of taxying out at Auckland is the same one that had the tail-strike later that evening departing from Melbourne. (A6-ERG) Cheers Bazza
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Post by mumbles on Mar 23, 2009 22:54:40 GMT 12
I've put together a "highlights" package on YouTube. With a 10 minute limit, it was hard deciding what to leave out and I think some more videos will be on order for those displays that were short changed ..... Am I the only one who thought the Bf108 rollout / Dakota landing looked a little too close for comfort, even if it was planned? Just got an odd feeling watching it that maybe the 108 anticipated having a little more time to vacate the runway....
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Post by ErrolC on Mar 23, 2009 22:58:40 GMT 12
Finally a decent head on shot of the Spaghetti break, its only taken about a dozen attempts! ;D All nice, but this one is just WOW! Well done. I've added a few more to Flickr (click thru), some to round out what is here:
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Post by mumbles on Mar 23, 2009 23:02:46 GMT 12
Great photos guys and thanks for posting them. Just as an aside Mumbles the Emirates A340-500 you took a shot of taxying out at Auckland is the same one that had the tail-strike later that evening departing from Melbourne. (A6-ERG) Cheers Bazza I swear I had nothing to do with it!
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Post by corsair67 on Mar 23, 2009 23:16:53 GMT 12
I like very, very much! Great photos everyone; and it's good to hear that the other (better?) halves all had a good time at the show as well. And I've noticed that there doesn't appear to have been an L-29 display at Whenuapai at all!
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Post by Kenny on Mar 23, 2009 23:43:29 GMT 12
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Post by stereoimage on Mar 24, 2009 1:27:09 GMT 12
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Post by stereoimage on Mar 24, 2009 1:31:08 GMT 12
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Post by philip on Mar 24, 2009 7:05:06 GMT 12
Anyone else notice how much rudder the C-17 uses on takeoff and landing? Check Stu's video and a few of the photo's
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Post by stu on Mar 24, 2009 11:35:31 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 24, 2009 12:56:53 GMT 12
Awesome stuff guys! Stereoimage, you have some really fantastic photos there. Well done!!
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Post by baz62 on Mar 24, 2009 15:09:51 GMT 12
Awesome photos everyone. I couldn't help wanting to put a caption on the photo of Harvard NZ1065 with the Hercules landing beyond it. "He's BEHIND you!" Oh and that Spaghetti break picture is a great action shot. Makes me want to close my eyes in case they collide! Baz ;D
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Post by mumbles on Mar 24, 2009 19:47:29 GMT 12
And another bunch, trying to avoid repetition of some of the great shots already in the thread! Yak Crossover. I mentioned it before, but during this display the shadow of a widebody twin jet airliner traversed the cloud deck above. It was quite mesmerising, but wouldn't have made a good photo. Still not tired of watching this display, after having seen it four times now. Mr Brooker should have a sticker on the MX-2 that says "My other plane is a Spitfire!"..... Mustang elegant as ever My favourite warbird display at the moment.... Heavy metal The shinier of the two Orions airborne Almost but not quite touching down....I wonder if there was any rivalry between the Orion and Herc Crews to see who could get closest to the tarmac without touching it! While soldiers prepare to rappel in the foreground, in the background a Previa is about to meet a sticky end! The RNZAF harvard was a lot easier to photograph once the sun came out! Face to face with an Iroquois Displaying the latest in fashion accessories for your utility helicopter 7 of the 9 Airtrainer formation Like the Harvard, the Hercules was much easier to photograph in the afternoon than in the morning Great shots everyone, keep them coming, and thanks for the compliments!
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