Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Classic Fighters Air Show at Blenheim NZ



Blenheim Easter Air Show.
This Easter weekend, the Classic Fighters Air Show was again held in Blenheim at the small Omaka Airfield. Huge crowds were expected for this big event in my district, although thousands did attend it was not quite the numbers hoped for, even though the weather was perfect, warm and sunny with no wind at all. The sky was perfectly clear so the small WW1 and WW11 airplanes showed up beautifully as they noisily twisted and turned dived and rolled their way through the flak and the hail of ‘bullets’ and traceries, small bombs were dropped on targets that blew up spectacularly, tanks raced around on the ground along with Army and Air Force jeeps full of troops hurrying to save the airfield from mock attack.
The theme for the show was the Italian side of the War, so people dressed in Italian uniforms were everywhere. The battle of Monte Cassino was re-enacted both on the ground and in the air.
I was working driving a taxi all day and evening during the two days of the show so I too along my camera and in between fares I was lucky enough to be able to watch some of the best of the show, I took a few photos from the taxi stand, which was quite some distance for the actually show, but I still enjoyed the spectacular show, ohing and awing with heart-in-the-mouth along with the crowd, as planes seemed to fall from the sky etc. I am proud to say that there were no mishaps; no planes or people were harmed during the whole show, not even during the big finale of a dogfight battle between the German and the Italian planes along with many British planes when there were dozens of planes in the air together.
The Aviation Heritage Centre is at the airfield, there is Spitfire parked right outside, it is a museum of ancient planes and memorabilia all set up in pageants some of which interact with the viewers, and is well worth seeing. I was told they even have The Red Barons old uniform on display, and a recreation of his old plane!
A great day for our town that is held every 3 years, alternated between Wanaka and Masterton airfields.
My World meme. is hosted by Klaus, Ivar,Sandy, Wren, Louise and fishing guy.
Do check out all the other great posts.

18 comments:

George said...

Thanks for the interesting and informative post about air show. The pictures were just great.
Thanks, too, for visiting my site.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Glennis: That was a neat show from New Zeland. I'd like to visit there.

antigoni said...

Beautiful post and amazing photos.

Nessa said...

Very cool. Looked like a lovely day, too.

soulbrush said...

love air shpws, but always go home with a sore neck.

Maree Clarkson said...

Hi Glennis, since visiting your site I've also created my own Playlist! Check it out here : http://maree-clarkson.blogspot.com/

magiceye said...

Must have been a fun day!

the walking man said...

Really liked the bi-plane pictures. Those were days when flying was by the seat of the pants and not by computer chip.

Shelley said...

Very neat to see this air show - you got some great photos of the action!

Dr.John said...

You were so lucky to be able to see such a spectacular show.

Carver said...

Very interesting post and great shots. I enjoyed it. Thanks for your visit to my blog.

SandyCarlson said...

Amazing. These images tell us a lot about strength!

2sweetnsaxy said...

Great shots! I haven't been to an air show in a while. These shots remind me how much I used to enjoy them.

TNI said...

Brings back some memories, I remember this Air-shows in Woodbourne (Renwick).
My late father would take us as kids... Great photos

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