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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 19, 2007 23:31:53 GMT 12
The latest news from the Classic Wings airshow team, via the excellent emails that Allan Udy releases weekly, says that Cheryl "Rusty" Butterworth is to make her comeback as a wing walker at the Easter airshow, the first time in over a decade!
Great news Rusty! It's great to hear you have a new wing walking stand, and that this ancient art of display flying is to once again grace our skies.
Will you attempt the record again?
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Post by Radialicious on Feb 19, 2007 23:50:31 GMT 12
Looks like you got the same E-mail as I just did. I first saw Rusty on a Tiger at Dairy Flat in 1988. It is a credit to her that she is gonna dust off the leotard after what seems like many years away from the public side of an airshow. I have several hours of Tiger flying under my belt and I would be interested to hear from a pilot who has done it, what the Tiger is like to fly in those conditions. I personally feel that there are other aircraft more suited to this kind of activity. In saying that, the hardest part of flying one is refuelling, so if there is someone already up there, secured to a frame, perhaps she could help!
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 20, 2007 7:57:20 GMT 12
I spoke with Rusty a few months ago, the original wing walking frame had gone missing from Wanaka some years ago. She was looking around for another pilot, Tony Renouf (?) the original pilot, passed on a few years ago. Wonder who the new pilot is?
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Post by DragonflyDH90 on Feb 20, 2007 14:24:58 GMT 12
I think its likely to be Graeme Wood at this stage, I was speaking with Rusty at the Masterton show. Will be great to see.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 20, 2007 16:43:34 GMT 12
Yes, Rusty sent me an email today and she says it will be Graeme Wood doing the flying. I too have wondered what the difference in fluing would be like. By the way radialicious, Rusty is a member of this forum so she may read your comments.  |
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Post by Radialicious on Feb 20, 2007 18:52:24 GMT 12
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Post by magic on Feb 25, 2007 23:08:15 GMT 12
I am looking forward to getting back on top of the Tiger at Omaka. Yes I agree, it is not the ideal aircraft for this purpose but there is nothing else at Ardmore. The Agcat 450hp would be great, or a Stearman 450hp. Thanks to Graeme Woods he will learn the ropes and carry on where Tony left off. Tony always said it was like flying a truck, obviously the handling is a lot different. Graeme is a very competent current Tiger pilot I am in good hands. Though the display is tame to overseas standards the crowd like it and will fly in a safe manner.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 25, 2007 23:12:24 GMT 12
Rusty, do you know if anyone in NZ has ever done the type of wingwalking you see in the old 1930's film where they're not strapped on, but instead actually walk around on the lower wing in the rigging, etc?
That must have been murder for the pilot's C of G. I doubt it'd be alllowed now but i wonder about back in the 1930's was anyone doing this stuff in NZ?
Who was the first wingwalker in NZ? I know it wasn't you as you're not as old as radialicious thinks...
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Post by magic on Feb 25, 2007 23:23:30 GMT 12
My pilot is Graeme Woods known as "Woodsy" as far as another record attempt goes that would be up to Graeme he would have to fit a long range fuel tank, maybe one day be good if I could. As far as I know there was only Ron Alexander(1970) and Tony Renouf that flew a Tiger with a wingstand.
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Post by magic on Feb 25, 2007 23:34:41 GMT 12
I don't have any information about 1930's but what footage I have seen scary stuff I will never be game to do the things they did, no stafety wire etc, they were the heroes of that era. The only people I know of to fly on the wingstand before me was Ron Alexander's 70yr old Grandmother she flew across Cook strait 1970. There was a lady don't know her name flew once at Rotorua in 1986, then it's been myself since the then. I have Graeme to thank for me taking to the skies again.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 25, 2007 23:44:44 GMT 12
Thanks for that info.
That's right, I'd forgotten about Ron Alexander. Info I have says he was Blenheim and was killed displaying the then recently-restored single-seat Tiger Moth ZK-BDH at the Motueka Airport for a Labour Weekend 1976 fly-in and airshow organised by the Nelson and Motueka Aero Clubs. The Tiger Moth was owned by Tom Williams of Masterton.
Ron was one of the founders of the Golden Age Flying Society, which in 1976 became part of the SVAS. He was also known for his Keystone Kops routine, and for his 'wing stand' routine which he and the late Jack Moon had done together. Ron had flown in the RNZAF, TEAL DC-6's and at the time of his death, the SAFE Air Argosy. A cartoonist too, he'd also written and illustrated the 1968 book High Adventure.
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Post by phil82 on Feb 26, 2007 12:11:24 GMT 12
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Post by flyjoe180 on Feb 27, 2007 8:37:13 GMT 12
Crikey, thats a bit harsh! Some of my earliest airshow memories were of Rusty on that Tigermoth. It captures the imagination and it's different. Would it make you feel better if it were to be called 'Wing Standing'?
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Post by phil82 on Feb 27, 2007 9:42:34 GMT 12
Captures the imagination of what? And what is it different from? Wing walking, standing, hand-standing while singing the first verses of "How Great Thou Art" ; it still changes nothing. It's still an activity that seems to be pointless.
I have attended air shows and displays, both organised and impromptu, for a long time; a very long time! People go to them for the same reasons they've always gone; to be wowed by the power and grace of a display, showing individual skills and designs to perfection, and because they like aircraft and flying. They love the sound of a Merlin, or the brute force of a military jet, whatever.
On it's own, an aircraft restricted to straight and level flight with someone bolted onto an upper surface and waving contributes none of the aforementioned skills. It's a fill-in between real displays, and it might have been a great gimmick in the barnstorming days of the 1920s, but sorry Joe, it tells me it's time to go and look at something static or find a decent coffee. No disrespect to anyone who chooses to do it , of course.Each to his/her own!
But then that's just me and my imagination!
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 27, 2007 11:15:35 GMT 12
Well, I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be in the nice warm confines of a cockpit rather than standing out in the breeze up on top of the wing.  Good on Rusty for doing what she does, and may she long continue to do so!  Some people might also consider other displays to be mere fillers too, but that doesn't take anything away from their display. I used to think displays by older aircraft like the Tiger Moth and other types from that time period were boring; but that was in the younger, sillier days of my youth! ;D |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2007 12:00:40 GMT 12
You're quite entitled to your opinion Colin. That's cool.
In my opinion, I think that it does provide a little spectacle that is not often seen on the older or slower types. I mean not as spectacular as seeing a Tiger Moth do aerobatics the way Ryan thrills the crowd, but usually all the Tiger ever gets to do these days at a show is a slow level pass in formation anyway, such as at Wanaka.
If one of those Tigers happens to have something different like Rusty on top, it's more interesting and I think for kids at least it's more memorable. I certainly remember the act at the 1990 Ardmore show where Rusty broke the world record much more than some other acts there - I'd totally forgotten that the Caribou had been there! But not Rusty and Tony.
There's an element of danger and risk, and an element of history. There's also a large element of skill on the pilot's part, flying with the added drag and different CofG.
Let's face it, if you think this is boring, what about watching helicopters hovering for ten minutes? The dozen or so helicopters at Wanaka that sit there ad infinitum do nothing for me, apart from the fact that they are part of the area's huge history of aviaton. Seeing a lady on a Tiger would be a much more welcome site to me.
I'd also rather see this act than some boring thing like a Cessna, Auster, Chipmunk or Piper Cub to be honest.
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Post by phil82 on Feb 27, 2007 13:28:38 GMT 12
Yes Dave, it's an act, as you say! I don't decry anyone doing it, and I'd quite enjoy it myself if the opportunity arose, but otherwise it doesn't blow my hair back.
Helicopters were never intended to fly, and the fact that they do continues to amaze me!
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Post by corsair67 on Feb 27, 2007 13:41:16 GMT 12
But they are quite 'entertaining' to watch if they start coming apart. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2007 16:42:44 GMT 12
Hmm, to be honest I don't ever want to see that Craig. Helicopters are great tools, but unless they're Iroquois with soldiers repelling from them, they're not really airshow material. Mind you that little Helicycle one-man machive at Tauranga last year was very cool. A pity it has since crashed.
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Post by phil82 on Feb 27, 2007 18:07:25 GMT 12
I watched a Whirlwind one day which lost its tail rotor to a shitehawk at about 300', and the helicopter rotated rapidly around its own axis before hitting the ground with a sizeable thump, and discharging two very dizzy pilots!
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