Brian's place - Warbirds over Wanaka 2002

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Warbirds over Wanaka 2002

This time I got 90 minutes of shakey video (well, some of it's pretty good I have to admit) and a mere 168 35mm photos - plus another 50 odd digital stills. This year the attendance was down from the record of around 110,000 last time to approximately 89,000. I have trouble reconciling this with the fact that there seemed to be more people there on the Saturday than ever. This is an incredible event, I would hate to see it cease due to lack of support. Still, 89,000 is quite a few...

The star attractions this year were the Wildcat, Sea Fury, and Hunter. The "ordinary" attractions were the beautiful Spitfire, Hurricane, P-51's, P40's, and the amazing Polikarpovs. I still want one. The hoped-for Lavochkin La-9 was a "no show" because of fuel pump problems (who can blame the restorers for putting safety first?).

They had a completely new sound system this year which was a considerable improvement (although the speakers sometimes intruded into the photos), and the music was excellent - especially the amazing opening sequence. The music was great, and they had an I-16 and an I-153 with long streamers attached to the wingtips doing a great routine.

Please Note: I retain full copyright on all images on this page. Please e-mail me if you wish to use them. It is a condition of entry to Wanaka that commercial use of any images must be with the express permission of the organisers. I would suggest that the Alpine Fighter Collection or the NZ Fighter Pilots Museum would be a good place to start. I have no connection to, nor claim to represent, any of the organisations involved in the Airshow. I would, however, express my grateful thanks to them!

Here's the Polikarpov I-153 taxiing back in after the opening sequence. The streamers can be seen attached to the wingtips. As I mentioned above, the opening sequence was very fast, and very exciting!

This must have been from the Sunday, because there's some streamers remaining! Most of them fell off on the Saturday run.

Apparently 4 of the Polipads (sorry, Polikarpovs) are in the U.S., including the black nosed one that the late Mark Hannah apparently preferred. It sounds as though it was given to the Confederate Air Force, I wonder if it was in return for the Wildcat coming out here.

White 23 was the only I-153 flying for the show. There was another one (the silver one from memory) in the hanger. Both types of Polikarpov are incredibly noisy and very maneuverable, but the I-153 could turn the tightest. It sounds as though it's somewhat more civilised to land as well.

The Hurricane performed its sprightly display, against a backdrop of threatening clouds.

The Wildcat whistles in on short finals. It is very attractive little aeroplane, I can see why the Royal Navy were keen on them.

Dust is a bit of a problem at Wanaka, but only if you get very close! Wish I had Canon L-Series lenses

Talking of Naval aircraft the Sea Fury made a welcome return trip, flying over from Oz.

This gorgeous paragon of aeronautica once more graced our skies, they used it in a "Salute to Sir Sidney Camm", a flyby with the Hurricane and the Hunter. Nice!

I was using an old 1.3 Mp Kodak for my digital camera in 2002. It was hard to use for aeroplanes because it had a shutter lag of about 3 months (kidding). This is probably the best shot I took on it. Some of the other photos were taken on my Canon 500n.

This magnificently restored Lockheed 12 Electra Junior is owned by Pat Donovan. It's named IISA in honour of Ingrid Bergman. She starred alongside an Electra (and Humphrey Bogart) in 'Casablanca'.

The standard of restoration on this was extremely high. Very nice.

lLockheed 12 Electra Junior

The Hunter is truly a beautiful aeroplane, is it the world's prettiest jet? I like the Vulcan and the Skyray too (talking purely asthetics here) plus some of the MiGs... Sea Hawk?

P-51D, Spitfire XVI, Hurricane IIa, and P40E.

The RNZAF were back in force, a very good display by the Red Checkers in quite windy conditions.

I'm reasonably sure that the man on the left is Wing Commander Johnny Checkitts, and that the one on the right is Jack Stafford.

Johnny Checkitts and Jack Stafford

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