Classic Fighters 2011

Held at Omaka airfield on the outskirts of Blenheim at Easter 2011. Although the Marlborough region is famed for its excellent climate, having an air show as late in the year as late April is really leaving things to chance, weather wise. We only got rained on a couple of times on the Saturday.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, a number of feature aircraft were not able to display. In the case of the beautiful Focke Wulf FW-190 it was due to some damage sustained on the Friday. However a “wet runway” excuse for the BAC Strikemaster which was only a minute away at RNZAF base Woodbourne didn’t sit well with those of us who’d made a considerable effort to get there.

Whenuapai Open Day 2009

Late March 2009 saw me take a short holiday to Auckland with the primary goal of attending this open day. While I got to visit a few old haunts and catch up with friends, the show was definitely the highlight of the trip. A rare treat was had with the presence of RAAF F/A-18s considering the RNZAF no longer has any ‘play mates’ for them. The show was further improved by my striking up conversation with the mother of a 5SQN member. It was nice to be able to talk “plane stuff” with someone who understood it all. And then there was the small matter of a line jump to get on board the P-3K for what was possibly the last public viewing of the interior prior to their latest upgrade.