TL;DR Going to Wings over Illawarra and Natfly Temora. It’ll be fun. Volunteer for something at Temora.
Wings Over Illawarra is a big day at Albion Park, Sunday 28th Feb. It’s a great day out, we may have an outside stand under a gazebo.
Here are some photos from years’ past.
Pitts Special Aerobatic
HARS Connie
Yellow Plane and Figures
Catalina
YAKS?
Elvis
We will also be going to NATFLY at Temora aerodrome, Thursday 1st April till Sunday 4th April.
Previous years NATFLY was held at Narromine. There are always great planes to admire.
First Public Outing, Our Foxbat
Cub Variant
Vareze Rear
Vareze
Anyone know this one?
Arthur Armour Stollite
There are lots of forums, workshops. Engines, fabrication, techniques. The most popular are the partners’ forums.
Hands on fabric covering
The weather has been mixed in the past. Last couple of years it has rained.
Joe has reserved a section of the camping site, so make contact to reserve a spot or get a lift.
The Weather Ahead
Wet Foxbat
Narromine was great. They have the Wright Flyer.
Narromine Museum, Wright Flyer
Temora will be good too. They recently renamed one of their streets, “Tom Moon Avenue.”
The aviation museum sent around an email:
The Museum hasn’t moved but you will need to update your address books to our new address, 1 Tom Moon Ave Temora NSW. Our street was renamed in a ceremony last Saturday with about 250 people attending. Temora Mayor Peter Speirs gave a brief history of Menzies St and informed that it was named after the former Prime Minister of Australia Sir Robert Menzies, noting that as Temora still wanted him recognised a new street in the Aerodrome subdivision will be named Menzies Place. The Mayor stated that the Moon Family’s relationship with Temora dates back to WWII when Tom’s mother Joy served on this Aerodrome at RAAF No 10 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) as a nurse.Temora Aviation Museum President and Founder David Lowy AM gave a moving speech in which he remembered his friend Tom as his partner in establishing the Museum. David asked Roxarne Moon to come forward and unveil the new sign by removing a custom cover that had been created in aviation style with a “Remove Before Flight” tag. After unveiling the sign she stepped to the podium and spoke about how her husband’s connection with Temora developed. “Tom’s relationship with Temora started about 15-16 years ago when he landed here. He was looking for an airfield and a town that would welcome aerobatic pilots who wanted to practice aerobatics frequently, which of course means a lot of noise. He said he landed here, taxied up, opened the canopy and was welcomed by Graham Williams, who helped him re-fuel and gave him a sandwich ” Tom was sold and from that day Temora became home to Tom and David, the New South Wales Aerobatic Club and ultimately the Temora Aviation Museum.
Following Roxarne’s speech Peter Anderson asked everyone to remain for a special flyby which included the Museum’s Boomerang flown by Doug Hamilton, Wirraway flown by Scotty Taberner and David Salter in his Harvard. The aircraft flew in formation over the Museum from the west then one by one returned, with the Wirraway being the first machine to officially track down Tom Moon Ave.
Click on this link for photos and speeches from the unveiling. http://www.aviationmuseum.com.au/news/TomMoonAvenue.cfm
The top ten highlights from the Flying Weekend were;
1. The Museum got a new address and is now located at 1 Tom Moon Ave, Temora.
2. Gordon Glynn traded in his trusty Birddog for an opportunity to fly the HARS Catalina Flying Boat.
3. Allan Arthur put his P-40 Kittyhawk through its paces and even joined up with the Hudson for a formation flyby.
4. The RAN Historic Flight Huey took part in a Vietnam themed display with Mick Haxell DFC at the controls.
5. Greg Matthews and his Team from the Temora Fire Brigade cooked up a feast over the weekend keeping all the Mess Hall customers well fed.
6. Warm sunny skies provided the perfect backdrop for the flying displays.
7. The Engineering Team corrected a last minute hydraulic leak ensuring that the RAAF Sabre was able to be displayed on time.
8. Al Harding’s Auster joined in with the Tiger Moth and Ryan to open the Flying Display.
9. Hearing the stories from several WWII Veterans including Wally Ives who flew Beaufighters operationally with 455 Squadron.
10. Our hardworking team of volunteers pulled out all the stops to look after our visitors.
One last memory from Narromine.
The Batmobile
This Drifter sported decals of bats along its spats and canopy. The pilot told me his tale. It involves powerlines, football matches and public outrage.
See you there for the full story.
Forgot to mention. Thanks to Bryan Shaw for forwarding the Temora Museum email.