Wigram Warriors

[xr6turbo1]

Well call me mad but I was out the door at 6.30am this morning, drove to Wigram, watched the two 1 hour flying displays and was back home by 6.30pm as the end of the financial year is coming and I have 2007 budgets to write up so couldnt muck around down there.
Pretty buggered after driving for 7 hours today but here are a few photos I thought I would post.
The light wasnt that good and I didnt have the best day with the camera but S&*^ happens.

I must say it was good to see the services out there strutting there stuff.
The army was impressive with all the new gear they had on display.
Some say the services have lost a bit of credibility with strike wing being disbanded etc but a few more show like today will bring the faith back, well it bought a bit of mine anyway, well done to them.
I am sure the others that went will post some pics as well








Amazing how much grass etc was picked up by the filter.

Have Fun

[agalbraith]

Hi Gavin, great photos!

I wont bother posting mine now as they look pretty much the same as your ones. The Seasprite puts on an impressive display dosent it. But the good ol Huey still takes a lot of beating I reakon. I will be sad to see them go in a few years time.

Well, glad you got home safely and I am sure you will sleep well tonight. My wife and 3 1/2 yr old were over it after 3hrs...sheesh no stayong power!

What sort of camera were you using? I used an EOS 350D, but have really no idea how to use it(wifes little toy!). I am just a point and auto focus guy. Yours look so crisp compared to mine.

Sleep well!!

Anthony

[xr6turbo1]

I used a 20D for these, my 30D is having its sensor cleaned and I could have really used it today.
If they are crisp its due to the L lens on the camera and a steady hand more than likely.

[agalbraith]

Yep, nice work Gavin. Nice lens too, but it still takes talent to take a nice photo also! great stuff

Cheers

Anthony

[beagle]

Sorry, I couldn't make it but people in blenheim needed their bread so had to go to work.
Actually I forgot to send their hot cross buns yesterday so you might not find too many in the supermarket there Gav.
I could hear the Iroquois and Sea Sprite around town and on one of my chances of getting outside, was to see the herk and boeing taking off or buzzing CHC.
Nice images and yes , ther eseems to be quite a bit of grass on the intake filters. Also i spot the flares there with lanyard ready to be fired. No guns, just flares, comon Helen give them a few more dollars to get guns.

[beagle]

Lespk will know but looking at the Sea Sprite image, the fuel tank pylon support strut, the forward strut on each side is painted a different colour to the rear strut. Looks like it is painted in the same colour as the markings..
Any reason for this

[agalbraith]

Oh why the hell not, I like the Seasprite and this is a different angle anyway! Hope the sizing comes out ok as my photobucket skills are crap!



Cheers

Anthony

[Dave Homewood]

Excellent work guys, the photos are much appreciated. Anthony, please post more of yours. It doesn't matter if they look similar, they may reveal some little details for the modelllers, etc. such as that paint on the strut Beagle talks about.

[lesterpk]

Why's the strut the wrong colour? It comes from the factory that colour and we probably didnt have time to repaint before it needed to be fitted. The paint job is primarily for corrosion protection and colour is secondary, witness the plenty of photos around of A-4's with euro1 scheme control surfaces fitted to an all green aircraft and vice versa. Hell, I've seen P-3 and C-130 with engines of the different paint schemes fitted at times, that could be something different to model.
Les.

[flyjoe180]

Great shots Gavin and Anthony. The grey sky makes some of those aircraft look rather sinister I reckon.

[skyhawkdon]

I was very impressed by the whole day. The static displays were excellent and it was great to be able to go through the Andover. A King Air was parked next to it and it made for quite a contrast in size and capability (lack of both in the King Air's case!). The professionalism of the RNZAF displays on the ground and in the air made me very proud. They are certainly doing a great job. Would have been nice to have had an A-4 (one of ours) parked outside and doing an engine run - lots of people commented on the lack of jet noise (757 excluded). I didn't take many photos as the sky was really grey and dark and my digital camera isn't too flash.

[Dave Homewood]

Were there any Warbirds there apart from the RNZAF's ones?

Also, Bruce mentioned on another thread that All Black captain Richie McCaw was flying NZ1015 - what's that all about?

[xr6turbo1]

There were not warbirds flying at the show but a Yak 52 was flying around the area.
It was a good day and the museum would have raised a good sum of money and I hear that more than 8500 people attended the day, great result

[corsair67]

Fantastic photos there guys! Thanks for sharing them.

Good to see it isn't just my attendance at air displays at Wigram that causes the crappy weather to appear! ;D

NZ1015 seems so much shinier than I remember it ever being before: are they using a new type of paint nowadays?

[flyjoe180]

Probably Turtle Wax?

[xr6turbo1]

Harvard 15 always looks great.
I am very happy to have seen 15 at three airshows since December, the first being Christmas Wings, Masterton, Wigram, and Omaka soon.

There was a time it wasnt seen much at all, its great stuff that we are seeing it a lot more.

[redkiwi]

I've posted some photo's on the following site:
rides.webshots.com/album/557628805FaMIrN

A great day last Sunday hosted by the RNZAF Museum, only shame being the skies were fairly grey as can be seen in the photos.

I love the format they have been running at Wigram over the last couple of years of two flying displays at day.

Harvard pilot certainly captures the attention with his display particularly the low final pass.

[Dave Homewood]

Nice photos Mark!