Clive Wilkinson report and photographs
The last two WW1 airshows of The Vintage Aviator Ltd (TVAL) having being cancelled due to bad weather, Saturday 26 March was not a day that looked much better, according to the weather forecasts. Northerly winds becoming strong and gusty with rain were predicted for the Masterton area, but even with heavy rain in the early morning, Sara Randle, TVAL airshow organiser, was confident that the rain would cease and the wind would drop in time for the 4.30pm start.
With bad weather just about everywhere else in New Zealand, Masterton slowly improved with the sun even making an appearance by the scheduled start. Conditions were ideal for people to enjoy the variety of vintage vehicles giving free trips around the aircraft display area and listen to local singer Tess O’Hara and her renditions of WW1 era songs while waiting for the airshow itself to begin.
The warm-up act was the barnstorming streamer-cutting duo of Jan Chisum in TVAL’s Tiger Moth and Gene DeMarco flying his Stampe SV-4B. Not much was left of the toilet roll after these two experts had finished.
Next was the only original flying BE 2f, flown by John Bargh, and John Lanham flying the reproduction BE 2c. The sight of these two massive biplanes performing together in front of the crowd was possible only in New Zealand. Tim Sullivan then gave another polished display in TVAL’s Avro 504K, another original aircraft and beautifully restored, slow but majestic.
Time for a bit of dogfighting, this time between the Pfalz and Nieuport 11. Always great crowd pleasers, these two aeroplanes are so different in noise and appearance. The Nieuport 11’s blipping rotary engine sound from the ignition control contrasts with the deep engine note of the Pfalz to create a vintage atmosphere.
Arriving before the start of the airshow from Ohakea, the RNZAF Red Checkers were next to do their precision flying. One of the team said prior to their display that the weather on the other coast was far worse than Masterton, with plenty of rain on the Tararua Range.
Keith Skilling in the Old Stick and Rudder Company’s Goodyear Corsair FG-1D of WW2 vintage showed how aviation had progressed in the 25 years from the end of WW1 with the roar of its Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp radial engine. The faultless display of New Zealand’s only airworthy example of this fighter was visually even more effective with the sun on the wings highlighting it against a very dark rain-sodden sky over the Tararuas.
After a brief interlude of bomb dropping on TVAL’s replica WW1 tank with Tiger Moths and Stampe, it was time to return to WW1, firstly with Gene DeMarco displaying the FE 2b and followed by a whole series of different dogfights with the German Pfalz and Albatros (flying together for the first time in public), three Fokker Dr-1 Triplanes and the Fokker D VII against the Allied Sopwith Triplane, three SE5a scouts and Sopwith Camel. The last display of the airshow was Gene DeMarco in TVAL’s original Bristol F.2b Fighter, fully airworthy at nearly 100 years old.
It is easy to become complacent living in Masterton when these aircraft can be seen every day, but a display like this is world class and it is a credit to TVAL, its skilled staff and the pilots and ground crew who spend many hours behind the scenes to make it all happen.
- Clive Wilkinson