I tried to get a few photographs of it but most of my efforts came out as fairly dull shots. If you are interested Ewen has his collection of photographs online, which includes a few shots of the Iroquois doing its stuff. It is just an unfortunate reality of the speeds these machines operate at. I have a soft spot for these planes having been raised on Gerry Anderson TV shows when I was a kid – the Vampire just looks like it stepped out of a Thunderbirds model workshop with its’ curved and unusual shape. Swooping from a thousand feet or so up it pulled out just as the characteristic wail of the air intakes was really getting going and then proceeded to do several low flyovers. First off was a flyover of airfield by an Orion from which a team of AirForce skydivers proceeded to drop in on the show.
But the Corsair was quite spectacular first featuring in a mock raid on the airfield and then having it’s own aerobatics display. First to warm up was a venerable deHavilland DH115 T.55 Vampire which required a little battery assistance to get it going. The Vampires required a gentler wind up with time for the engine to adjust to the heat and stresses involved – all of which meant some consternation as hats and umbrellas were scattered a bit during this process. The EP 9 is a very distinctive shape and has a remarkably quick take off and landing span required. One of the more unusual was a 1/6th scale A-10 Warthog replica which kept the crowd decidedly amused as it jetted around. Next up was a tribute to Edgar Percival who designed a variety of planes of which three featured in the display. Sadly the very speed of the jets is their own undoing when it comes maneuvering for displays. After the jets finished it became the turn of the RNZAF to strut their stuff. Still it was very interesting to see the Albatross flying with the Vampires with the thirty years of design work and refinement between the two plane types showing in how they maneuvered.
The engines on this DC3 were very recognisable producing the droning humm that many a film has depicted. For the international readers this generally means an unorganised mess which is what most scrums in a rugby game look like to the non-fan of the game. One of the major highlights of the day for me was the presence of a Douglas ‘Dakota’ DC3. Here I managed to capture the DC3 in flight replicating remarkably well the cover artwork of Mike Oldfield’s album ‘Five Miles Out’. After the Catalina a ‘lunch’ break featured with a variety of smaller remote controlled aircraft providing displays. One Dakota was loud enough, I can scarcely begin to even imagine what the 2,000 odd, that featured in the early stages of D-Day shuttling the troopers of the 101st airborne paratroopers across the English Channel, must have been like. Unlike any other plane of the display you didn’t so much hear the Corsair go overhead as feel it, the plane leaving a strong shockwave behind it of both disturbed air and simple engine noise. Sharing engine types with the DC3 is the Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina – a venerable flying boat design that reminded me of my grandmother describing flying boats operating out of Wellington Harbour.
A much slower and a touch more ponderous craft than the DC3 it was nonetheless a pleasure to see one of these in flight. As can be seen in the photographs by this point in the day the early cloud cover had lightened to provide patches of blue sky – giving the Corsair frequent chances to briefly disappear on the high end of the loops and rolls performed. The Proctor is a remarkably modern looking for a plane its age and this is no doubt the point of featuring Mr Percival’s work – it has been influential to a large degree. It was definitely a lot of fun to see this plane put through its paces. Of course these was no mistaking that the plane was around, the engine noise never let you forget that and I can see how soldiers on the ground facing one of these machines could be intimidated by it.