Bubbleboy Posted March 29, 2013 Posted March 29, 2013 For those who maybe interested, I am at Classic Fighters in Blenheim, NZ. Its Friday which is the trade / practice day. Warm day but a little windy. I spent the morning going through the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. I would be confident in saying that I would be very surprised if there is another place in the world that would come close to this exhibition. There is a mixture of genuine and replica WW1 aircraft which are displayed in themed settings. Sir Peter Jackson the NZ movie director has basically thrown a blank cheque book at this facility. To be honest, I was moved walking through. Even if WW1 aircraft is not your thing, you need to make the effort at some stage to go through this place. The amount of history and information is astounding. As well as aircraft there is a mountain of WW1 memorabilia. Apparently Sir Peter Jackson has people all around the world who are constantly looking out for items. When something comes up, they call him and he says buy it! I went for a walk around the Airshow site and am very impressed with the amount of planning from several groups have gone in to this. I went to Warbirds over Wanaka in 2000 and 2002 and this is proving to be a far superior event. Tonight there is a twilight show and concert followed with a fireworks display at 9pm. So far today I have taken 250 photos. They were all in the Museum. The Motel I am staying at has a limit on internet useage so I will start uploading photos when I get home next week. Shaping up to be a fantastic weekend. Just a quick teaser below of Aussie troops removing memorabilia and flying boots from a dead "Red Baron". Scotty 2
Bubbleboy Posted March 30, 2013 Author Posted March 30, 2013 Day 1 of the Airshow. Fantastic! Just before lunch they had a 30 minute WW1 aerial and ground warfare scenario. Must have been 15 to 20 Great War aircraft in the air at once shooting things up! Triplanes, Camel, Pup to name a few. My camera does not do air shots justice so I watched it and will buy the DVD when it comes out. I heard today that this Museum and facility has had $50 million thrown at it by Sir Peter Jackson. Looking at the memorabilia, quite possible. How much would he have paid for the cross off the Red Barons Triplane? Few more pics till I get home. Scotty 8
CrayonBox Posted March 30, 2013 Posted March 30, 2013 Keep them coming. We were there in 2011 and have to agree it is fantastic. Even my wife says she enjoyed it! And that was just to see the museum, we did not see the airshow.
Bubbleboy Posted March 31, 2013 Author Posted March 31, 2013 Final day of the show and we woke to rain. It sorted itself out early and left a lovely day but a bit of wind about. The FW190 and Sopwith Camel would have to win the engine sound comp! Truly menacing! One of the Fokker Triplanes had an engine failure by the looks and made a safe downwind landing. Im making my way back to OZ tomorrow so will upload some more pics then. Have re-booked the Motel for 2 years time! Scotty
Neil_S Posted March 31, 2013 Posted March 31, 2013 Final day of the show and we woke to rain. It sorted itself out early and left a lovely day but a bit of wind about. The FW190 and Sopwith Camel would have to win the engine sound comp! Truly menacing! One of the Fokker Triplanes had an engine failure by the looks and made a safe downwind landing.Im making my way back to OZ tomorrow so will upload some more pics then. Have re-booked the Motel for 2 years time! Scotty Hi Scotty, Great pix! I definitely intend to be there for 2015. Do you know where I can buy the DVD when it comes out? Do they have a web site I can buy it from? Also be interested to know if you organized your trip yourself or went with one of those group organized ones. Any advice on hotels/transport etc greatly appreciated..... Cheers Neil
Guest steve-nz Posted April 1, 2013 Posted April 1, 2013 Their website is located at http://www.classicfighters.co.nz No doubt will take a wee bit to edit a DVD together, previous ones available from: http://www.omaka.org.nz/omaka-merchandise.htm
Neil_S Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 Their website is located at http://www.classicfighters.co.nzNo doubt will take a wee bit to edit a DVD together, previous ones available from: http://www.omaka.org.nz/omaka-merchandise.htm Thanks, Steve! Looking forward to seeing it..... Cheers Neil
Bubbleboy Posted April 3, 2013 Author Posted April 3, 2013 Hi Scotty,Great pix! I definitely intend to be there for 2015. Do you know where I can buy the DVD when it comes out? Do they have a web site I can buy it from? Also be interested to know if you organized your trip yourself or went with one of those group organized ones. Any advice on hotels/transport etc greatly appreciated..... Cheers Neil Hi Neil...sorry for the delay! Yes the DVD will be available later in the year. They were taking pre orders for it at the show. I organised it all myself. A break down of the costs are approx $800 for Airfares from Tamworth to Christchurch and return. Rental car was about $300 and Motel was $540. I flew in Thursday and flew out Monday. In saying that I chatted to a guy in Sydney on the way back who was returning home from a tour organised with Torii Tours. I have never dealt with them but he said he had been on several of their tours and raved about them. He lives on the Gold Coast and apparently cost him $2000 for the 5 day tour. So looking at my costs, if your were going on your own the tour might be the way to go as you get to travel with like minded folk and would be more of a social thing. If you have a travel partner then the tour would be more expensive. If my wife had of come the only extra would have been an $800 airfare as I already had the car and Motel. He was saying that Torii do an Oshkosk tour for around $2500 for 7 days I think he said which is a quick tour but well priced. If your going in 2015, I would tentavily book a Motel in Blenheim now. I used Hertz rental cars. Was all pretty painless to organise. Scotty 1
Neil_S Posted April 4, 2013 Posted April 4, 2013 Hi Neil...sorry for the delay! Yes the DVD will be available later in the year. They were taking pre orders for it at the show. I organised it all myself. A break down of the costs are approx $800 for Airfares from Tamworth to Christchurch and return. Rental car was about $300 and Motel was $540. I flew in Thursday and flew out Monday. In saying that I chatted to a guy in Sydney on the way back who was returning home from a tour organised with Torii Tours. I have never dealt with them but he said he had been on several of their tours and raved about them. He lives on the Gold Coast and apparently cost him $2000 for the 5 day tour. So looking at my costs, if your were going on your own the tour might be the way to go as you get to travel with like minded folk and would be more of a social thing. If you have a travel partner then the tour would be more expensive. If my wife had of come the only extra would have been an $800 airfare as I already had the car and Motel. He was saying that Torii do an Oshkosk tour for around $2500 for 7 days I think he said which is a quick tour but well priced. If your going in 2015, I would tentavily book a Motel in Blenheim now. I used Hertz rental cars. Was all pretty painless to organise.Scotty Hi Scotty, Thanks for the info! Very useful. Cheers Neil
Bubbleboy Posted April 17, 2013 Author Posted April 17, 2013 Finally got around to posting some more pics! 1
Neil_S Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 Wow! Thanks for sharing - magnificent pics! Cheers Neil
Old Koreelah Posted April 19, 2013 Posted April 19, 2013 Thanks for the awesome pix, Scotty. Looks like it was a wonderful show. Those Kiwis sure put a lot into preserving our aviation heritage!
ayavner Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 There is a great deal of drama captured in some of those photos, gave me goose bumps some of them!
Bubbleboy Posted April 20, 2013 Author Posted April 20, 2013 No worries guys. Really, this is just a snippet of the weekend. I cant post all the pics on here. It is a really worth while Airshow to go to and with the AUD so good, not too expensive either. Scotty
barandbrew Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 Hey No worries guys. Really, this is just a snippet of the weekend. I cant post all the pics on here. It is a really worth while Airshow to go to and with the AUD so good, not too expensive either.Scotty Scotty Great photos we were there just before the airshow but had to fly home didn't know this even existed What camera did you use Cheers John
Bubbleboy Posted April 20, 2013 Author Posted April 20, 2013 HeyScotty Great photos we were there just before the airshow but had to fly home didn't know this even existed What camera did you use Cheers John Hiya John...its the first time I have been to this one. I felt it was far better than Warbirds over Wanaka which I attended in 2000 and 2002. Maybe its changed since then. The museum is world class. I believe Peter Jackson threw some ridiculous amount at it and the figure which is being tossed around is around $50 million. It is just outstanding! Even if WW1 aircraft dont interest you it is well worth going to once. Im going back in 2 years with the wife this time. Im sure she will enjoy the wine tent... The Camera is a Nikon. To be honest I bought a Laptop from Harvey Norman and they gave it to me. Im a numpty when it comes to photography. I put it on auto and press the button. That is it. I might learn what all the other buttons do one day but I have a plane to build which is more important ... Scotty
Bubbleboy Posted April 20, 2013 Author Posted April 20, 2013 Thanks for the awesome pix, Scotty. Looks like it was a wonderful show. Those Kiwis sure put a lot into preserving our aviation heritage! Hiya Lyle...yes they have some amazing aircraft over there. Andrew Carter is trying to create something similar here with www.tavas.com.au I have just ordered the drawings from Jim Kiger in the USA for the Sopwith Camel. I could build one of the Airdrome kits but I like the idea of being as close to original as possible. Although I couldnt afford the rotary engine, I would use one of the 9 cylinder Rotecs. How dam sexy is this!......is it wrong of me to have dirty dreams about one of these? Scotty
Gnarly Gnu Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 I like the idea of being as close to original as possible. Besides the twin Vickers may be useful during a pesky ramp check eh? Probably worth the 50 penalty points or whatever it is. 2
Old Koreelah Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 I would use one of the 9 cylinder Rotecs... Great to see so much interest in WWI aircraft. I guess the approaching centenary is a big incentive. There is an impressive-looking Focker at Lightning Ridge running a Rotec. it looks great but the builder can't get it off the ground. An awful lot of work building a faithful replica and the result might be a real handful compared to the little planes most of us fly.
Admin Posted April 20, 2013 Posted April 20, 2013 Images have been changed to thumbnails to make it easier for users top return to the thread after a new post is added and to reduce impact on users bandwidth capacity
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