Melbourne: The Air Show

So, here it is. The big one. The air show! Two days of flying goodness.

RAAF CENTENARY OF MILITARY AVIATION AIR SHOW

I'll warn you in advance. There are a lot of pictures here. A lot. But it's worth looking through as they're awesome (I'm not the least bit biased :) ).

The air show was all the about 100 years of the RAAF and was held at their base at Point Cook. RAAF Point Cook is also the oldest airbase that has remained in continuous operation. Who would have thought that the Aussie's have one of the oldest air forces and the oldest airbase!?

The show program was in a semi-chronological order of the type of aircraft the RAAF have flown, so I will present my photos in a similar manner to how we saw them displayed. Where appropriate, I'll mix in some static shots with the flying shots. Finally, the end will be a shots of the static displays, demo's and a few from the RAAF museum that is on site.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't join the party. Conditions all day Saturday and the best part of Sunday morning were overcast which made photography very hard. The majority of the shots posted here will be from Sunday. So, on to the show and the photos....

At 7:40am on the 1st March 1914, a Boxkite flew at Point Cook. 100 years later, down to the minute... a replica Boxkite flew at Point Cook. On Sunday, weather conditions (mainly wind) were so good that the Boxkite flew just prior to the show opening...

Bristol Boxkite

Show Opening - Parachute Display

 WW1 - Sopwith Pup

(where a Hornet blasted past and displayed - I'll save those pics for later...)

Inter-War Years

Tiger Moth, Avro Cadet, Gypsy, Auster

WW2 Trainers

Harvards (Southern Knights display team) & Wirraway

Post-war Trainers

Winjeels & CT-4

The jets: Vampire & Hawk (current jet trainer)

 Naval Helicopter Trainer - Squirrels

Then there was a short break where the a military band played a few tunes. Which reminds me.... during each display, music very appropriate to the aircraft (and the period) was being played. Added nicely to the atmosphere. More air shows should do this... During the break, I got a few nice shots of some aircraft taking off...

Also during lunch 6 red PC-9A aircraft took off.... 

They were the opening display after lunch and it was a fantastic display.

Roulettes

RAAF Display team

WW2: The Sports Aircraft

Stinson & Staggerwing

WW2: First Frontline/Home Front

Catalina, Hudson, Boomerang, Kittyhawk & Mustang

 

WW2

C-47, Kittyhawk, Spitfire, P-51

Korean War

P-51, Meteor, Sabre

Vietnam

Bird Dog, Caribou & Iroquois

 Then it was time to bring on the noise... and they came in low, loud and fast!!

F/A-18A "Classic" Hornet

Force Enablers

KC-30A & Wedgetail

Transports

King Air, Hercules & C-17 (this thing is huge!)

 P-3 Orion

And then, finally.... BOOM!

F/A-18F "Super" Hornet

And then, just like the Classic Hornets before... it went vertical and in seconds was gone from sight!

Static Displays, Demos & RAAF Museum

 

All in all, a great weekend, a great trip and a fantastic air show.

Congratulations RAAF on 100 years.