| NZ Warbirds - Battle Of Britain 70th Anniversary Open Day - Ardmore 19th Sept 2010 |
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Sunday 19th September saw Chris Rarere an myself visiting Ardmore airfield for an Open Day held by the NZ Warbirds
Association to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The airshow associated with the open day
could technically be called the first show of the NZ airshow season so Chris and I were looking forward to the day
after a long winter of little or no shows.
Unfortunately the weather gods were not cooperating on the day and Ardmore airfield was being pummelled by strong
winds and squally rain showers. But as the saying goes "the show must go on" and the organisers perservered and
carried on with the displays as best they could.
NZ Warbirds is operated as a Trust and they maintain a good number (by New Zealand standards anyway) of aircraft
and these were on display on the day. There were also a number of other aircraft either privately owned of from
other collections in NZ.
The photo's from the day are shown below and you can also check out the NZ Warbirds at their
website.
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This Spitfire is not one of the Warbirds fleet but is privately owned. It is currently based at Ardmore having just
recently come out of being repaired after a mishap by the owner in 2009.
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The unmistakeable shape of a de Havilland Beaver.
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...and a de Havilland Chipmunk.
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The P51 Mustang had come up from Tauranga Aviation Heritage Trust for the day.
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The Trojan is one of the aircraft in the Warbirds collection.
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The P40 was doing an energetic display as we arrived out at Ardmore.
The Allison engine of this aircraft sounds fantastic and is on a par with the sound of the Merlin in my humble opinion.
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The CT4 Airtrainer is used as the Primary Flight training aircraft by the RNZAF.
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This ex-Swiss AirForce de Havilland Venom also made an appearance and did a high speed taxi run down the runway.
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Inside the Warbirds hangar there were a number of other displays including these classic cars.
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And the Papakura Aeromodellers Club had set up a very good display of their work.
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Some of the model aircraft that were on display.
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The Warbirds hangar contains a great library and displays on a mezzanine floor overlooking the aircraft in the hangar.
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As Chris and I were standing on the mezzanine, the Spitfire was started and taxied out to do its display.
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Keith Skilling was at the controls and he did a fantastic job of showing off the Spitfires capabilities.
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As the Spitfire taxied in, Chris and I decided to call it quits for the afternoon as we both had other commitments
and the weather was less the pleasant to say the least. Not that I am complaining, it was still a great afternoon
and I am always happy to wander round and look at aircraft any day of the week regardless of the weather.
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