Australia for sharks... Grey Nurse, Kittyhawk and Mustang!

[JDK]

G'day.

Today, Saturday, was the practice day today for Sunday's bi-annual RAAF Museum Pageant at RAAF Williams, Point Cook, Victoria, Australia.

http://www.defence.gov.au/RAAF/raafmuse ... ageant.htm

In what we believe to be a warbird scheme world first, three front-line W.W.II fighters showed their teeth, the common or garden P-40 with normal dentition, and two much rarer toothsome types, the Mk.VIII Spitfire and CAC Mustang.

Getting ready to roll:



In action:





While the trick is to find a P-40 without sharks' teeth, I can't think of another Spitfire in preservation that's had such a nose marking, and only a couple of Mustangs have worn them, in the Mustang's case, I don't recall if the other examples were based on a prototypical scheme ~ IIRC they were owners flights of fancy. Anyway, as far as I know this hasn't been seen before, and like most airshows, it took a good deal of black magic, aligning of planets and other dark arts to achieve; thank to all that brought them together for this weekend.

The RAAF Museum's Mustang's is Point Cook based, the P-40, Alan Arthur's, from Albury, just over the NSW border, while the Spitfire is Temora's based in rural NSW.

The stories behind the schemes are interesting:

The Mustang I've discussed before. A CAC built example, it is the only airworthy Mustang in Air Force use, AFAIK, and is painted in the colours of a NAA example flown by WingCo Susans as part of the Allied Occupation force in Japan.

The P-40 represents an unusual variation on the 112 Sqn RAF shark's mouth scheme (which inspired the AVG effort) seen on a later 112 example, IIRC in Italy.

The Spitfire is in the colours of Bobby Gibbes, Australian ace and leader of the 'Grey Nurse' wing operating in the Pacific. The Grey Nurse is a type of shark, but you knew that...

Hoping for more fun tomorrow.

Cheers,

Stunning superb stuff, didnt know things could happen like that ...so beautiful...

Those lined up sure does make them so much more different.. must be a unique Australian thing?

[oz rb fan]

great pics jdk(nice to see bob eastgate's cac mustang back on the pointcock tarmac).
i wish i could make it tomorrow have a great and safe airshow.
paul

[Mudge]

James...."DENTITION". I'm impressed.

Mudge the grinning

[daveymac82c]

Those are some great pictures James!

I really like that P-40. It looks like a terrific example.

Boy do I wish I could be down there right now. I'm hoping to get down there this coming December/January. Are there any good airshows or aviation events during that time of year?

Cheers,

David

[Ontario-Warbird]

SWEET, nice to see another warbird with a sharks mouth other than a P40, I look forward to seeing Mr. Potters P40 without a sharks mouth at the shows.

Dave C

[The Inspector]

It's got me grinning like a mule eating salt briar! What a great happenstance for all three to be there but also that someone didn't have a last second 'technical' and you got all three in good tight formation

[JDK]

Thanks for the remarks folks.

We had a great day yesterday, some excellent (safe) flying, sun and blue skies, good crowd and the only thing which could have been better was the wind was a bit brisk.

great pics jdk(nice to see bob eastgate's cac mustang back on the pointcock tarmac).
i wish i could make it tomorrow have a great and safe airshow.
paul

Hi Paul. Did you make it? BOB has been operating from Point Cook (again) for a while now.

Those lined up sure does make them so much more different.. must be a unique Australian thing?

I don't understand what you mean? It's a usual thing to line up aircraft like this, the unusual aspect was getting these three together...

Boy do I wish I could be down there right now. I'm hoping to get down there this coming December/January. Are there any good airshows or aviation events during that time of year?

Hi Davey, you missed a good one. There are very few shows, and it's a very big country! The RAAF Museum flies one aircraft at the interactive display on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday every week. The Temora Aviation Museum has a flying weekend about every six weeks. The Tyabb show has just been cancelled, and the Avalon and Point Cook shows are on every other year. Coming to Australia in Dec / Jan is pretty much the middle of summer. How are you at 30 - 40 degrees c?

What a great happenstance for all three to be there but also that someone didn't have a last second 'technical' and you got all three in good tight formation

Yes, the last-sec-tech (and weather) has stopped quite a few warbird formations from happening. However the pilots (Peter Clements, Mustang; Doug Hamilton, P-40 and Guy Bourke, Spitfire) are very good at the job, and have a good deal of warbird / formation experience and fly together a lot. The work undertaken by the tech teams is the secret bit of the recipe.

If people would like to see more, let me know.
Cheers

[The Inspector]

"Sir, may I have some more pudding?'
Bring your photos on!! Always love to see operations in other countries, and get a feel for what the day was like

[daveymac82c]

Hmm... well, I intend to get to as many air museums and available flying events as I can while down there. So is Point Cook on Dec 2008 or 09? And Avalon?

Oh, and I love the heat. Vancouver is great and all, but boy do I wish it would hit over 30C here more often. Last time I was in Oz I was with family on a big country wide tour. Let's just say I got quite used to 45C and suvived 54C while at Uluru. I can't wait to get down there again.

Cheers,

David

[JDK]

Hmm... well, I intend to get to as many air museums and available flying events as I can while down there. So is Point Cook on Dec 2008 or 09? And Avalon?

Well, obviously we will talk further. Glad to hear we can put you on the barbie.

In general, best to ask here: http://www.warbirdz.net/phpBB2/index.php

Avalon is 24-29 March 2009. It's basically a trade show with an airshow at the end; it's the biggest in the southern hemisphere, but compares poorly to Farnborough and Paris, tradewise, and isn't very good on the vintage side, IMHO. Of course, if it's all new to you it's more interesting, and my first, the 1992 show was excellent.

The next RAAF Museum Pageant, subject to further info, will probably be in the late summer 2009, that's Feb-April down here.

[oz rb fan]

jdk unfortunatly i couldnt make it looks like it was a gfeat turnout tho (still doesn't seem like a point cook air pagent without jeff trapit or did he turnup on sunday?).
paul

[JDK]

...without jeff trapit or did he turnup on sunday?).
paul

Jeff was there, both days, and flew his Winjeel in the show, but without his Mustang.

[TAdan]

Great pics. You Australians sure know how to have a good time.

Put a Sharks mouth on EVERYTHING! haha. j/k

[JägerMarty]

Had a great time there on the sunday, great weather and warbirds.
Show wasn't going to the printed program but didn't matter. Was happy kickin back on the forward grass area and watching it all go by

Nice pics posted too