Post by Mustang51 on Oct 26, 2015 9:00:17 GMT 12
Was asked to undertake commentary at the show over Rathmines yesterday (25 October). It is a former RAAF Flying boat base and one of the largest of its kind anywhere. Situated on Lake Macquarie it operated from 1939 through to the early 1950s actively then as apprentice training etc until the early 1960s. To give you an idea how big it was from photographs I have counted 27 Catalinas, one Sunderland and four Walrus sitting around the base area - and these were on land - with 18 Catalinas moored in the lake.There was a large crowd last year and the show was more difficult than others as there is no runway. The aircraft came from several places and included RAAF P.3, Wirraway, Avenger, DH.82, Pitts aeros, Technam formation and others in a display that went from 11am to 2pm. Lots of co-ordination to get everything happening when it should. The place was packed, perfect sunshine, beautiful breeze coming off the lake, lots of ground activities, seaplanes giving joy rides in the morning, bands, car show etc so you can imagine the crowd. Only one thing missing - the organisers forgot to provide a PA system and the entire show was a waste ! The airshow display organisers were not responsible for this debacle. It was down to the organisers of the event but it just goes to show you how something as elemental as the PA system for a large public event can be forgotten..... They did have a couple of speakers at a tent where a junior band was playing but 50 feet away you could barely hear it and at crowd centre it was "background noise" only..... but it was a lovely 400km round trip in the country for me.
