Aero Day Over The Bay

[Dave Homewood]

[Dave Homewood]

Buffalo Beach airshow to celebrate 75 years of Mercury Bay Aero Club

By Jim Birchall
11 Sep, 2023 03:16 PM


NZ Warbirds' Roaring Fortys Harvard formation aerobatic team, the YAK Formation Team and precision flying displays by several other Warbird, vintage and aero club aircraft will wow the crowds. Photo / Gavin Conroy

The Mercury Bay Aero Club Inc. was formally established on October 1, 1948, and as part of the celebrations for their 75th year, a spectacular airshow will dominate the skies of Mercury Bay, off Buffalo Beach near Whitianga, on Labour Weekend from October 20-23.

The club is planning two feature events, starting with the airshow, which will run between 10am and 12pm on Monday, October 23. The airshow is free to the public and features planes from NZ Warbirds, utilising airspace some 200-500 metres offshore.

The NZ Warbirds’ Roaring Fortys Harvard formation aerobatic team, the YAK Formation Team and precision flying displays by several other Warbird, vintage and aero club aircraft will wow the crowds.


Spectators at Buffalo and Brophy’s Beaches will have a chance to win a flight in a Warbird plane. Photo / Gavin Conroy

The show will open with a mass parachute drop of skydivers from a DC3 on to Buffalo Beach. Spectators at Buffalo and Brophy’s Beaches will have a chance to win a “lucky draw” for a flight in a Warbirds Harvard – free numbered programmes will be distributed. The lucky number is to be drawn at the Aero Club’s open day at 3pm on Sunday afternoon.

The Buffalo Beach Display will be followed by an Aero Club open day at the airfield from 12pm-4pm, where all participating airshow aircraft will be on static display - and many, including some of the Warbird aircraft and the DC3, will be available for joy rides.

Mercury Bay Aero Club president Bill Beard said the club had put on many successful airshows in its three-quarters of a century, but urbanisation of Whitianga had prompted a shift to a location off the coast.

“With the sprawl of residential housing around and adjacent to the Whitianga Airfield, we are now unable to meet NZ CAA safe clearance requirements to stage public air displays over the Airfield. With TCDC and the Mercury Bay Business Associations’ support, the aero club is in the process of sourcing sponsorship funding from local businesses to make this a spectacular and unique event to attract holiday homeowners and additional visitors to Whitianga for the long holiday weekend.”


Spectacular aerial acrobatics will feature on the day. Photos / Gavin Conroy

“This is a non-profit event generously sponsored by local Whitianga businesses to both celebrate the Mercury Bay Aero Club’s 75th jubilee and as a community gesture to attract holiday homeowners, friends, families and visitors to the peninsula after a pretty devastating period for small business owners.”

www.nzherald.co.nz/waikato-news/news/buffalo-beach-airshow-to-celebrate-75-years-of-mercury-bay-aero-club/QY3UPX7D2BCKHBU4LLAX6IYDLU/

[ErrolC]

10.00am - Midday Sunday 22nd October (Labour Weekend, rain day Monday) Air Show at Buffalo Beach
Airfield Open Day Midday - 4pm Whitianga Airfield

www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=695871675903043&set=a.553893320100880

[Dave Homewood]

[davidd]

With reference to the comment "subject to change", how about getting somebody to correct some of the errors such as spelling of de Havilland, and the notion that the Chipmunk is a WW2 aicraft. Yeah, I know, love pointing out things like this!

[johnnyfalcon]

Oct 3, 2023 9:39:19 GMT 12 davidd said:

With reference to the comment "subject to change", how about getting somebody to correct some of the errors such as spelling of de Havilland, and the notion that the Chipmunk is a WW2 aicraft. Yeah, I know, love pointing out things like this!

...or RV-7 (not RD-7)

[Dave Homewood]

Just a note for anyone planning to fly in to Whitianga for this event, get in early because I'm told the airfield will be closed from 9.30am to midday.

[AussieBob]

and get rid of the apostrophe in Roaring 40s and Harvards. They are only plural (just add an s), not owning anything.

[Dave Homewood]

For the record, I did not write that programme listing. I only copied it to here for people to see.

[efliernz]

A good excuse for a long weekend away. My partner and I grabbed a motel on the beach 6 weeks ago... nice to have a weekend away anyway.
Driving from Hamilton - thanks to the closing of the Kopu-Hikuwai Road, the quickest way is via Coromandel lol.

[hardyakka]

I went to Whitianga by road with a couple of friends for the airshow and open day. It is further than I remember, taking nearly 3 hours each way from the 'Tron.
It was good to see the display aircraft getting an early outing for the Summer season. We watched the displays amongst the long-weekend holiday crowd from Buffalo Beach.
Not being over an airfield meant that the safety zones for displays were quite a long way out over the water and we were looking almost directly into the hot, bright sun. Sometimes we couldn't distinguish individual aircraft in formations due to the back-lighting and distance. I didn't bother taking any photos as they would have just been indistinct shapes in the sky. The best viewpoint would probably have been on a boat on the seaward side of the exclusion zone.
After the displays we drove back to the airfield for the Mercury Bay Aero Club open day. It was a good crowd and I got to catch up with a lot of flying folk I haven't seen for a while. Watching the comings and goings was good fun with Mustang 15 doing joyrides and the Fly DC-3 Dak doing scenics.
My rough count would have been about 80 aircraft on the field, so a good day for MBAC and visitors.