Warbirds over Wanaka
Airshow 2002 in New ZealandPart 1 / Part 2 / Part
3 / Part 4
Part 2: Formation aerobatics, single aerobatics, big
warbirds
It is nearly unthinkable, that the famous
North American T-6 Texan does not participate in a warbird airshow. This aircraft is also
known as the "Harvard". Displays of this aircraft are an
absolutely delight to the eyes and ears of every warbird fan. To hear the
wonderful sound of its powerful radial engine is always a great pleasure when
a single Harvard flies a display. But if an aerobatic team uses Harvards
for its formation flying display, then this is a very much bigger optical
and acoustical pleasure ! The "Roaring Forties Aerobatic Team" shows a
very impressive formation aerobatic display with five Harvards. Here you can see two of
their Harvards take off. The sound of the five powerful radial engines during the
display of the team is absolutely wonderful !
After the flying programme it was also
possible to enjoy pleasure flights in this Douglas C-47 Dakota. The big letters
"WB" on the fuselage are meaning "War Bird".
Three of the legendary Dakotas attended
in the Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow 2002.
Two of the three Dakotas at Warbirds
over Wanaka Airshow 2002 are aircrafts of the New Zealand airline Pionair ( www.pionair.com ). Pionair use
the Dakotas for charter flights and nostalgia flights.
The "Red Checkers" aerobatic
team of the Royal New Zealand Air Force ( RNZAF ) has used five Harvards
for their displays until 1973. This Harvard of the Roaring Forties Aerobatic Team
with the red and white "checkered" cowling is painted like an Red
Checkers Harvard at that time. Nowadays the Red Checkers are equipped with modern
CT-4 Airtrainers. The modern Red Checkers team was also to see in the flying
programme of the Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow 2002. You can see more about their
very good formation aerobatic display in part four of this report !
A very special rarity at Wanaka was this
Lockheed 12 Electra Junior from the 1930s decade. It was a great pleasure to see
this very nice aircraft in the flying display and to hear the wonderful sound of its
two radial engines !
The North American T-6 Texans and
Harvards were built in large numbers in the 1940s and so the name Roaring Forties
Aerobatic Team refers to the 1940s decade. During the Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow
the announcer of the team said, that relating to the age of the pilots the team
should be called Roaring Sixties Aerobatic team. The youngest pilot in the team is 50
years old and is called as the "baby" of the team!
It was also a third formation aerobatic
team to see in the flying programme of the Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow 2002
additional to the very good performances of the Roaring Forties Aerobatic Team and
the Red Checkers of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The third team has shown very good
formation aerobatics with four russian-built Yakovlev Yak-52 aircrafts. ( And in part four
of this report You can see photos of the RNZAF Red Checkers displays ! )
The Battle at Sea
Display
Some very interesting combat displays
with many pyrotechnic effects were to be seen in the flying display of the
Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow 2002. One of this displays was the Second World
War "Battle at Sea" display. In the first part of the Battle at Sea
display You could see this Consolidated PBY-5 A Catalina take
off for a patrol flight. The task was the search for German submarines.
During the patrol flight the
Catalina sights a German submarine, the "U-02".
The Catalina bombs U-02...
... and U-02 finally sinks.
During the flight back to the base the
Catalina has been attacked by two German fighters. (Two North American T-6
Harvards were marked with German crosses and swastikas for their role as German
fighters.)
A Grumman FM-2 Wildcat arrived at the
scene of action to help the Catalina. The Wildcat shot down the German fighters after a
heavy fight.
Before the Yak-Team has started the
aerobatic displays, the team made with the four Yak-52 some fly-pasts together
with two Nanchang CJ6.
At first sight the Nanchang CJ6 looks
like a Yakovlev Yak-52, but there is a difference at the tail unit. The Nanchang CJ6 is a
chinese-built revised model of the russian Yakovlev Yak-18.
The registrations for civil
aircrafts in New Zealand be composed of three letters. This gives the
opportunity to use funny three-letter combinations, which are very easy to remember !
Steve Taylor has shown breathtaking
aerobatic displays with this modern Edge 540 high-performance aerobatic
aircraft. And Steve Taylor was also the pilot of one of the Polikarpov I-16
aircrafts in the flying programme of the Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow 2002.
The Consolidated PBY-5 A Catalina which
was to see in the "Battle at Sea" display belongs to the Catalina Group of New
Zealand ( www.catalina.org.nz ). Before and
after the flying programme of the Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow it was possible to enjoy
pleasure flights with the Catalina ! At the time I have arrived at the staff of the
Catalina Group, the flights were unfortunately sold out. But I am looking forward to the
next Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow and I hope I can fly in this wonderful Catalina
during the 2004 Airshow !
Click
here to see the part 3 of our big Warbirds over Wanaka 2002 Report >>> Part 3
