Easter weekend brought the biennial Classic Fighters air show to Omaka airfield on the outskirts of Blenheim. It also brought much disappointment. But I still managed to snap 756 pictures and the best 167 of those are now up on Flickr in a new set.

Here are 5 types just as a taster.

The beautiful Focke Wulf 190 was unfortunately grounded due to some damage sustained on the Friday. At least it was there!

Two wonderful Spitfires took to the air. It is many years since I last saw a Spitfire in the sky.

The hard working Bristol Freighter. Once described as 40,000 rivets flying in close formation. This was supposed to do a taxi around the airfield but they could not get it started until after we left.

I was quite surprised to hear over the PA that the pilot of this brand new Albatros was none other than Kermit Weeks!

One of the best looking planes in the sky on the day had to be this new P-40C Tomahawk.

And finally, here’s my picture of the other big drawcard of the show. Or should that be the no-show. Supposedly there was a wet runway at Woodbourne. Pah! It’s not on active service any more! (The Hercules crew used a similar excuse.)

I was going to write more about the disappointing aspects of the show, but have decided I can’t be bothered. In short, I know at least two people who will not return in 2013. Maybe three. In the meantime, check out the rest of the photos in the set.

Yes, it’s air show season again and Wings over Wairarapa 2009 has kicked off the year in, well, very average style.

On the whole, it was worth spending the day in the moderate heat and wind, but it wasn’t as exciting as promised.  The star attraction – Doug Brooker’s Spitfire – was of course absent after its unfortunate mishap on Thursday. The RNZAF failed to bring anything larger than a King Air (which was hidden away until after the show!), and many of the more delicate WWI-era aircraft were not taken aloft due to the blustery winds.

Anyway, here is a small selection of what did make an appearance.  There is a Wings over Wairarapa 2009 set on my Flickr site which contains 159 of the 586 photos taken on the day.  The good news is my new lens and new memory cards performed brilliantly.

First up, perhaps the most spectacular sight of the day was an 8-ship formation of Yak-52s which kicked off their involvement with a “pylon race”.  Very entertaining.

There were, as usual, a few agricultural aircraft displaying including the only remaining Tiger Moth top dresser, Wanganui Aero Work’s ZK-AUZ.

Only three of the WWI-vintage aircraft got airborne on the day, including this Pfalz D.III

WWII warbirds were well represented with two P-40 Kittyhawks, a P-51 Mustang and, my favourite, the FG-1D Corsair

The RNZAF showed up with their best-ever selection of 7 helicopters – a Kaman SH-2G Seasprite, pictured here, four UH-1H Iroquois and two Bell 47G Sioux.  By the next WoW, two of those types will be undergoing replacement.

And, of course, the Red Checkers were on hand. I’ve never been to an air show where they weren’t present.

And finally, after deciding to hang around for a bit after the show instead of rushing to join queues of traffic, we witnessed a mini-airshow with a very interesting selection of aircraft that had either been purely on static display or owners had simply flown in.  They included this DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver.

RAAF F-111

Old Stick and Rudder Company FG-1D Corsair

RNZAF AT-6 Harvard

New Zealand Warbirds DC-3

RNZAF Bell 47 Sioux

There’s just a small selection of the pictures I have uploaded today.  Go and check out my Ohakea 08 set on Flickr for 122 more!  (Yes, including the F-111 doing the “dump and burn”!)