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Post by tbf2504 on Apr 16, 2023 9:27:55 GMT 12
I guess it is a sign of the times when the RNZAF's contribution was limited to the Black Falcons, a A109 and a C130. I can well remember the heady days of the 1960s - 1970s when virtually representatives of all the RNZAF's operational fleet would have present plus the Red Checkers. Still, they made an effort
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Post by skyhawkdon on Apr 16, 2023 10:43:20 GMT 12
The A109 was only on static display and flew in and out of WB each day, but a Seasprite did a flying display both days as did Kiwi Blue. Oddly the Seasprite never landed and operated out of WB. It would have added a lot to the rather poor RNZAF static display. The Air Force recruiting tent/area was a pretty poor effort. It was actually more of a NMIT recruiting area. It was nice to see NMIT's complete Iroquois training airframe on display and it was very popular with the punters. No Air Force Museum tent this year either. The lack of RNZAF participation was explained in the commentary as due to operational reasons. They have been very busing doing their day job and haven't had time to work up displays for some types. As we all know they are also suffering from chronic staff shortages. The Black Falcons were really excellent, as was the Herc display.
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Post by tbf2504 on Apr 17, 2023 9:52:50 GMT 12
With a loss of around 18% of their regular force personnel in the last year or two, they will be pressed to work-up assets for airshows. I also note with interest that Hercules NZ7004 was the display machine and was the one
initially used for Cyclone Gabrielle. With only a fleet of four currently operating the choice of airframes for flying is getting tighter
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Apr 17, 2023 10:06:26 GMT 12
...With only a fleet of four currently operating the choice of airframes for flying is getting tighter Better get used to it... |
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Post by ErrolC on Apr 17, 2023 11:36:04 GMT 12
With a loss of around 18% of their regular force personnel in the last year or two, they will be pressed to work-up assets for airshows. I also note with interest that Hercules NZ7004 was the display machine and was the one initially used for Cyclone Gabrielle. With only a fleet of four currently operating the choice of airframes for flying is getting tighter We were wondering if we had seen the last airshow display by an H(NZ) Herc, figuring that they wouldn't work up a display for Wanaka given expected retirement date. I've just realised that we also need to consider Wairarapa in November which has a better chance of getting one. |
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Post by Gavin Conroy on Apr 17, 2023 11:55:16 GMT 12
Some fantastic photos here everyone, thanks for taking the time to post them!
Feel free to post more, the weekend was a blur for me so didn't see a lot especially scenario wise.
Many thanks to everyone who came along!
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Apr 17, 2023 12:41:47 GMT 12
Some fantastic photos here everyone, thanks for taking the time to post them! Feel free to post more, the weekend was a blur for me so didn't see a lot especially scenario wise. Many thanks to everyone who came along! I'm sure I speak for those of us who did, we had a great time and we appreciate the efforts of all those involved behind the scenes. It was our pleasure! Been there, done that, got the picnic blanket! |
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Post by baz62 on Apr 17, 2023 13:12:49 GMT 12
Many thanks to everyone who came along! Many thanks for a great show!  |
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Post by Calum on Apr 17, 2023 15:16:23 GMT 12
Excellent set of images Grant |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2023 11:32:08 GMT 12
I've been suffering "airshow lag" for the past week and a bit but I'm hopeful I'll get some of my own photos up over the next day and a half. Some fantastic photos here everyone, thanks for taking the time to post them! Feel free to post more, the weekend was a blur for me so didn't see a lot especially scenario wise. Many thanks to everyone who came along! I'd like to echo what others have said Gavin, well done to you and the team for a fantastic weekend! It was great to see you briefly and I'm only sorry I couldnt pass on my congratulations in person. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2023 17:48:12 GMT 12
It was nice to see NMIT's complete Iroquois training airframe on display and it was very popular with the punters. Further to my ongoing desire/threat to post photos: I’ve been asked to work tomorrow with the promise of a three-day weekend to follow shortly, so I may actually get around to it! However I’m not sure if my work is up to some of the excellent stuff already posted here. |
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Post by Antonio on Apr 20, 2023 19:48:13 GMT 12
"However I’m not sure if my work is up to some of the excellent stuff already posted here. "
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder & variety is the spice of life.
Post away.............
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Post by planecrazy on Apr 22, 2023 10:37:07 GMT 12
Found another clip.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 22, 2023 15:22:36 GMT 12
I want to say how fantastic this airshow was, and how brilliant it was to have a full three-day airshow for the first time in four years. It was so wonderful to catch up with everyone, I literally seemed to bump into everyone I know from Warbirds and the airshow scene and everyone from the forum. It was an amazing catch up.
I will be forever grateful to Al Marshall for his stepping in at the very last minute and demanding that my plan to skip the airshow was not going to happen. Al, you are awesome, my friend - and I will never forget your kindness in making this happen for me. Thanks also very much to John Saunders, Rachael Brown, Gavin Conroy and Marty Nicholl for helping to make the trip all work out. I have never made such a big trip at such short notice, and it is really nice to know you have good friends willing to assist.
I had so many people, hundreds it seemed, saying how glad they were I had made it to Omaka, how much I deserved it and how they could not imagine the airshow without me. I found it all a little bit overwhelming to be honest, I felt very humbled to have so many friends glad to see me there. I just do what I love doing, whether it is on the forum, on the podcast or with the magazine, and I don't think I deserve such special treatment, but it's so nice to be so loved and respected among so many people in the aviation community. Also it was so nice to hear so many of those good folks say what an amazing guy Al Marshall is, and I truly hope they told him too, as well as telling me that.
For me the highlights of the airshow were:
- Seeing the Mosquito engines running, and seeing friends like Don Simms, Colin Ford and Wal Denholm get to experience the Mosquito from the inside. What a lovely aircraft it is now, such a credit to the amazing team who restored it and now run it.
- Seeing the five Waco biplanes, what gorgeous aeroplanes they all are! And what a lovely, colourful team they made. Such a privilige to see them all in the air together.
- Seeing the Widgeon, as I have never seen one in the air before. What a lovely, graceful machine it is.
- Seeing Gloria Lyons and John Smith's Tiger Moth out in the sunshine, beside the Mossie.
- Seeing some of the aircraft that are up for sale and may not be around NZ skies in the near future, like the Mustang, the Anson, and the P-40N, all displayed beautifully.
- The WWI display, the beginning of bigger things to come as the WWI scene is now expanding a lot at Omaka and we may well see double or triple the numbers in the air by the next airshow, with the TAVAS aircraft now based at Omaka and the local projects all coming along. Lots of keen younger pilots getting involved and a whole new scene about to take off there, which is so good.
- So many other displays that I have seen before but always appreciate, like the Trojan pair, the Yak 3's Steadfast and Full Noise, The Spitfires and the Fw 190 replica...
BUT...
The absolute highlight for me was seeing my best mate Bevan Dewes debuting his absolutely awesome Harvard NZ1044 (ZK-OTU) at the show. I have been a part of the journey with that aircraft from the moment Bevan purchased it and it means so much to me to finally see it in person, and in the air and displayed so beautifully. NZ1044 looks incredible from every angle, the totally authentic colour scheme just stands out so much as something different and special against all the Harvards we normally see. This is exactly how she looked in 1944-45 while at No. 2 (Fighter) Operational Training Unit, RNZAF Station Ohakea. Bevan and I have spent three years researching her history, and we have put together an amazing amount on NZ1044's career already from official records, and pilot's logbooks. This is one of the reason why I have been actively seeing fighter pilot logbooks, to find the details of NZ1044 while at 2OTU, as there is no Operations Record Book for that unit. We know already that some incredible pilots and big names flew 44, both as students and as instructors. And there is a lot more to find yet, so if you have a wartime or postwar logbook with NZ1044 in it, I'd like to hear from you please.
Seeing Bevan and Pete McCombe do their fantastic Harvard pair display on the Friday evening was incredible. I have had the privilege to be present over two summers as they worked up that act in the New Year breaks at Whitianga, using Harvards NZ1098 and NZ1078. Witnessing their professional attitude toward it all, with planning sessions and briefings and debriefings with their mentor Keith Skilling (who better could you get?!) and input and advice from Ace Edwards and others, and watching them improve with every flight, it's been really special. Seeing them finally given the opportunity to perform their act in front of the public, this time in NZ1044 and NZ1066, was just magic. I am so proud of Bevan and Pete, they have put in so many hours and a lot of money to achieve this opportunity, and it was so awesome to see the great reaction from the crowd. Really wonderful stuff.
Then once that night act was done on the Friday Bevan reattached the bomb racks, and the bombs, and he added the aircraft's own guns too, and with the 8.5lb practice bombs and two x 250lb replica bombs, and the guns, it looks absolutely amazing sitting on the fightline, straight out of 1944.
For the Saturday and Sunday Bevan flew a different pairs display in NZ1044, with Mark O'Sullivan as his teammate in his stunning ex-SAAF Harvard ZK-XSA. Bevan left the guns in and the practice bombs and racks in this time (removing the 250lb bombs as they were replicas and might have fallen apart in the air) and he led a low pairs display and then Mark did his own aerobatic routine. Bevan did not fly aeros with the bombs on, but the passes alone with the racks and bombs looked terrific and very special. I love the unique colour of the NZ Duck Egg Blue under NZ1044, and with the extra bling of bombs it made for another stand out point of difference from the regular Harvard displays we always see.
And another highlight was also seeing Tiger Moth "Queenie", ZK-BFS, making her airshow debut too. Again Bevan was flying BFS as her owner Lucy does not have a current LLDA. It is so neat to have seen him debut two aircraft that were practically barn-finds, and both restored to the air by Bevan himself, with the assistance of Callum Smith's Twenty24 team at Wanaka.
I took a lot of photos but the grey skies on the Friday and Saturday meant most of them are crap. I will sort out some of the good ones and post here eventually. After the airshow I had another big mission to go onto, Great Plains Fly-In at Ashburton. And since I got home on Tuesday night I have had a nasty cold so have not had a chance to do much with photos, etc. I have only just caught up with this thread.
Thanks again Al, I won't forget CF23. And a huge well done to Gavin Conroy on your first show as the director, you and your awesome team did a wonderful job, and you restored the big airshows back to where they should be. Thank you!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 22, 2023 16:26:22 GMT 12
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Post by campbellbox on Apr 22, 2023 18:42:52 GMT 12
Well said Dave, it was great that you were able to make it down.
It's not exactly Flight Path TV, but I have stuck together my favourite clips I took with my phone.
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Post by colford on Apr 22, 2023 22:54:10 GMT 12
Finally home and some time to start downloading all the photos and video from my various cameras. Lots to go through, but already from a quick skim, lots of fantastic memories captured. One key and magnificent memory Dave mentioned in his post above. Mosquito Stairway To Heaven  Mosquito Stairway To Heaven by Colin Ford, on Flickr The smile afterwards says it all.  Mosquito Smile by Colin Ford, on Flickr Was great to catch up with so many members of the forum who have been up until Classic Fighters Omaka 2023, names on a forum, now faces to go with the names and some very interesting chats along the way. More to follow once I get a chance to dig through all the images and vision. |
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Post by ErrolC on Apr 23, 2023 21:42:36 GMT 12
My photos have ended up looking crap when shared here, all fuzzy. Very disappointing as they are sharp in reality.  The 1024px photos themselves look poorly made Dave, how did you resize them from the originals? I've been enjoting everyone else's images, please continue. I enjoyed the CAMS stand showing off their Gnomes.  CAMS Gnome engine run by Errol Cavit, on Flickr |
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Post by ErrolC on Apr 24, 2023 7:10:41 GMT 12
The versions you linked to were 1024 pixels, so presumably some process resized them. Your server made resized copies (like how Flicker actually makes several versions) and you linked to one of them rather than the original?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Apr 24, 2023 10:59:06 GMT 12
Thanks Errol, you have helped me to realise my mistake, and I have reposted the full versions. This head cold is clearly messing with me.
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