The Sights of Warbirds Over Wanaka, 2014

Good morning,

Following on from my posts about the sounds of Warbirds Over Wanaka 2014...

1. The sounds of WW1
2. The sounds of WW2 Europe
3. The sounds of WW2 over the Pacific
4. The sounds of Post War New Zealand

...here, for your visual edification, are some of the sights of Warbirds Over Wanaka, 2014.

Some vehicles...from my phone...


...and camera...


Hmm, the phone seems to have better focus, the camera richer colours...

My grandfather rode one of these bikes as a dispatch rider in the Italy campaign. 'Till he fell off, got his wedding ring (and attached finger) caught in some rusty barbed wire, and almost died of tetanus on the hospital ship on the way back to New Zealand.


Ever wondered what the insides of a Kublewagon look like?






And a wee collection of Kiwi jeeps. These would be pretty cool to replicate in 1/72...









Oh, and there were some aircraft too.


Before they wheeled them out to the a/c park, they were waiting outside the hangers, so we could get right up and touch 'em and everything.

Look at this Brisfit's rigging - that's thin flat 'rod' rather than the round wire I was expecting.


The rudder pedals of the Bristol Fighter.








This Spitfire is in the colours of Wing Commander Alan Deere, a Kiwi born RAF ace. The plane itself is owned by the Deere family here in En Zed.
















Overall, a jolly good time was had by all. Specially since I got hold of a special pass that allowed me to park on the airfield.

But to be fair, the Omaka airshow was better. At Omaka, you're standing with your back to the sun, so you can see the a/c in all their full colour glory. At Wanaka, you're looking towards the sun all day, and can only really see the aircraft as dark silhouette against the sky. Also, you get twice as many WW1 a/c, and about the same # as WW2 - no Avenger, but one more P-40.

Mind you, Omaka didn't have the 1st NZ jet race - one L29, three L39s and two T11 Vampires. Won by Vampires, as it happened - greater speed, though lower G loading than their Eastern counterparts.

And it's hard to beat Central Otago...

Nick