Warbirds Over Wanaka visualised
After a lengthy fifteen-year restoration, the De Havilland DH98 Mosquito, NZ2308 made its airshow debut at Warbirds Over Wānaka. NZ2308 was the fourth (of five airworthy Mosquito) built by Avspecs in Ardmore, New Zealand. This was the first time a Mosquito was displayed at Wānaka since the opening of the show in 1988 and it certainly did not disappoint. However, immediately after the airshow ended the aircraft was flown back to Ardmore before beginning to be dismantled for shipping to the USA.
While the main focus of the airshow is on Warbirds, WOW is a great opportunity for not only the RNZAF but also the RAAF and USAF to show off their Air Force firepower. After being a crowd favourite at the 2018 Warbirds airshow, the USAF brought back their powerful F-16 Fighter Jet that tore apart the skies over Wānaka. In order to bring the fuel-burning fighters to Wānaka, a large fuel tanker is required, for this excursion, the USAF brought a KC-135 Strato-Tanker which was able to do a flyover on both Saturday and Sunday. To tie off the United States action, the airshow was visited by a C-17 Globemaster from Pearl Harbour-Hickham AFB.
The Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow was be the first time the public was able to see the P-51 resorted for the Biggin Hill Trust display. The aircraft was joined by the Spitfire PV270 flying as the Air Force Heritage Flight of New Zealand.
As a grand finale for the incredible airshow, six naughty Harvards took to the skies in an attempt to destroy the aerodrome. With explosions after every pass and rockets soaring high into the classic kiwi blue sky, the WW2 fighters raced into the air to combat the cheeky Harvards. After defeating all of the T-6s, the six fighters conducted a number of passes over the airport with the final pass being added to with a burning hot ‘Wall of Fire’ and a missing man to end of the spectacular event.
Showing off at the airshow was the American Eagles display team, formed solely for Warbirds Over Wānaka. The team is made up of four extremely talented pilots, of which all four previously were or still are apart of the Patriots Jet Display team. They operated using four L-39 jets from Fighter Jets NZ, a Tauranga based adventure flights airline.
Airshows across New Zealand are always a great time for the RNZAF to show off their skills. For Warbirds Over Wānaka, the RNZAF showed up in numbers with at least one example of every aircraft type currently active in the Air Force. Alongside the awe-inspiring displays from the Black Falcons and Kiwi Blue, the Air Force had two standout displays. For the first time ever, the brand-new P-8A Poseidon was on show, conducting both low and high-speed passes over the Airshow. Also on show was the very public display of the RNZAF C-130H Hercules, for over 65 years the Herc has served NZ and has been to every Warbirds airshow since the beginning in 1988.
On display, was the NZ Yak Red Stars, this display team includes pilots from across the country. The origins of the Red Stars go back to the early 1990s when a two-ship team would perform at small North Island airshows. The team has grown over the years and in 2018 made headlines at Warbirds Over Wānaka with the world’s first-ever nine-ship loop by a piston-engine display team. This year at Wānaka, they completed a 12-ship display for the first time ever.
