NZ Warbirds Association Open Day

KiwiZac · June 02, 2015, 09:57:32 PM

Hi all,
This past Sunday the NZ Warbirds had another of their periodic Open Days at Ardmore, near Auckland, which includes a number of members' aircraft on static display and others flying for practice displays during the day. Sunday's concluded in a mock battle with German and American ground troops fighting for the crowdline while the "bad guy" Harvards were engaged by the resident fighters: Yak-3, P-40N and Spitfire Tr.IX. It started off as a wet, miserable day but the cloud lifted and the rain stopped so everything that was meant to fly, did.

Here's my take on proceedings, imagery courtesy of the mighty iPhone camera.

I don't know why, but ZK-TAF seemed especially photogenic this weekend. This was the first "warbird" WW2 fighter in the country, making its first NZ airshow appearance in March 1985 and still going strong.

Feel free to ask any questions about any of the aircraft pictured, I may add in captions later

The Chaos · June 02, 2015, 10:59:17 PM

Hi Cool Planes, have you any more pictures oft he Bell?

dumaniac · June 03, 2015, 01:46:44 AM

Great pics - but what was the yellow sports car on the far side of the WW1 aircraft ? it looks a real gem.

zenrat · June 03, 2015, 02:59:10 AM

Looks like a good day.
What mark of Spit is that at the end with the 5 blader? I want to say 22?

KiwiZac · June 03, 2015, 08:31:51 PM

Bell - no, sorry, that's as close as I could get! She is ZK-ICJ and she did a roaring trade in rides. It was great to see lots of kids going up in it although even at just $65 it was too rich for me.

Car - it was a yellow one, with four wheels I think. It may be a Ford? Ford's a car brand, right? The plane, though, is one of two or three Isaacs Furies (scaled Hawker Fury I with next-to-no endurance) in NZ.

T-28 - it's a newly-reassembled and repainted import of a T-28"G", apparently with an R-2000 (DC-4, DHC Caribou) up front. It hasn't flown in NZ yet but I'm very excited to see and hear when it does.

Spitfire - XIV. Sadly it has engine issues and didn't fly (taxied to and from the display area, though), but I did see it fly at Easter and MAN do I now understand the appeal of Griffon Spits! I was talking with a friend who looks after the Tr.IX and he said to fix the problem they needed to lift all 1000kg of Griffon out of the airframe as the offending item is underneath!

NARSES2 · June 04, 2015, 12:31:23 AM

Serious question, Is there any particular reason why New Zealand has so many Warbirds and replica aircraft ?

rickshaw · June 04, 2015, 01:57:37 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on June 04, 2015, 12:31:23 AM
Serious question, Is there any particular reason why New Zealand has so many Warbirds and replica aircraft ?

Combination of high incomes and easy licensing for the aircraft, I think you'll find. In Oz, across the Tasman, we have high incomes and hard licensing, so all the warbirds end up on Sydney's breakwater.

zenrat · June 04, 2015, 03:26:02 AM

Hypothetically speaking, should an ANZAC war break out does the RAAF have anything with the range to strike NZ?

Captain Canada · June 04, 2015, 03:44:34 AM

Nice ! Love those Sabres and the Mustang. They both are super cool in Aussie colours.

Car looks like a Mustang, even says GT on it.

Beaver !

zenrat · June 04, 2015, 04:17:40 AM

How many refills to get an FA-18 to Christchurch?

KiwiZac · June 04, 2015, 01:35:43 PM

Quote from: Captain Canada on June 04, 2015, 03:44:34 AM
Nice ! Love those Sabres and the Mustang. They both are super cool in Aussie colours.

Beaver !

The Mustang is in RNZAF colours, thank you very much! ;-)

Quote from: Captain Canada on June 04, 2015, 03:44:34 AM
Beaver !

Another long-standing member of the Warbirds fleet, painted as the RNZAF's Antarctic machine from the late 1950s. Flew the first handling demo of the day. Lovely sight and sound!

Quote from: NARSES2 on June 04, 2015, 12:31:23 AM
Serious question, Is there any particular reason why New Zealand has so many Warbirds and replica aircraft ?

I'm honestly not sure. The Harvards are almost all ex-RNZAF machines sold surplus in 1978 and it grew from there. The fighter element really kicked off with the Mustang's importation, which was the first of the Alpine Fighter Collection (which went on to get the nine Polikarpovs restored, Yak-3, Hurricane amongst others), and in the last decade-and-a-half we've seen more and more aircraft brought in. Syndication is a major part of it, but machines like the Spitfire Tr.IX and Yak-3 are owned by one or two individuals. The owner of the Spitfire XIV also has a FW190 repro, Sopwith Pup and Fokker E.V.

Which leads into the WW1 replicas. Sir Peter Jackson really kicked this off, and his The Vintage Aviator Limited operates and produces reproduction/"late-model" aircraft in the dozens. We're seeing more syndicate-operated WW1 machines too. I think it's about spreading the cost out between people to make it affordable.

I can't explain it any better as I'm not familiar with prices and operating costs, but as an enthusiast that's what I've seen.

Captain Canada · June 04, 2015, 04:00:43 PM

Oops...I was wondering about that but close enough, continentally speaking

NARSES2 · June 05, 2015, 12:50:04 AM

Cheers Zac. I just find it interesting that such a small population has so many of these aircraft.

I must admit the Peter Jackson WWI replicas are just amazing

dumaniac · June 05, 2015, 02:47:52 AM

Thanks Captain - your computer skills are better than mine.

Yellow soft top - wow !

KiwiZac · June 07, 2015, 01:33:12 PM

Quote from: NARSES2 on June 05, 2015, 12:50:04 AM
I must admit the Peter Jackson WWI replicas are just amazing

Truly they are. Looking into the cockpit it's hard to believe they were built a year or two ago. The company hosts relaxed flying weekends over summer, and I'd like to get to one or three this year and next. Look out for pics :-)