Mosquito Day, Omaka

[nuuumannn]

Today is Anzac Day, for those of you not familiar with that, ANZAC stands for Australian New Zealand Army Corps and the Anzacs first made their name on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey, and every year on 25 April, the day in 1915 that the Allied forces landed on the peninsula, our two countries hold remembrance services. The Brits have theirs on 11 November.

As an Anzac Day treat over the long weekend, the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre held its postponed Mosquito Day on the 24th, firing up the engines of the de Havilland Mosquito it has been gifted tender over by the Smith family. Back in the late 1940s, John Smith carted it back to his house after buying it in a sell off of the type after retirement from the RNZAF. Although the weather was overcast, a lot of people went to the event and ther was a host of aircraft and things to keep them entertained.

When we arrived, this beastie was running up. This is Yak-3U Steadfast, which was built in Romania and modified in the USA with a P&W R-2000 engine with water methanol injection, making it super fast. It holds speed and time to climb records for its class and it is now permanently based in New Zealand.

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Allison engined Yak-3 Full Noise. This took part in the Reno air races a few years back.

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Lighting the burners before take off...

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This Fox Moth was offering joy flights. I went up in this a few months ago.

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Aircraft along the fence line. There is a ditch, which enables excellent angles for photography.

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Yellow Peril.

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Fleet 16.

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Tiger Moth.

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This one is often flown by forum member Aaron (Gumbyk).

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This Tiger belong to John Smith and this is the first time it has been seen in public in around 60 years.

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A stunning Waco undergoing restoration locally.

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Bird Dog and Chip Munk. The mess to the right of the image is Steadfast making its mark.

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Former South African Air Force Harvard.

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Avro Anson I. One of only three airworthy Ansons in the world.

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Steadfast returning from blatting about the sky in the distance.

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More to come including the main event.

 

[nuuumannn]

The Mosquito. This sat in John Smith's yard for more than 50 years, along with two P-40s, a P-51, the Tiger Moth, Vampires, Harvards and a Hudson and assorted crates full of engines and stuff. The Mossie's engines were often run back in the 50s and 60s, but as John got older and the importance of his collection grew, he became less amenable to public visits, not least because all and sundry kept offering him money to cart the aircraft away. After his death, the family dispersed the collection, but to individuals who will take care of the aircraft. The Harvard and P-51 are undergoing ground up restorations and of the P-40s, one will do the same, while the other is now in the Aviation Heritage Centre, along with the Hudson and the Mosquito. The Tiger lives locally, too.

The Mossie has not had a ground up restoration, but it is structurally sound, as it was dismantled and pored over by the guys and girls here. Although there are elements of the exterior woodwork that have been replaced, it is pretty much in original condition. It'll never fly again, but its engines run, which makes for a living breathing museum piece. It wears the squadron codes of 487 (New Zealand) Sqn, RAF.

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Start up sequence. The engines are primed and the starter cart is connected.

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Finally, some Great War era stuff that lives locally, all flyers.

Sopwith Pup.

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Bristol Fighter.

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Nieuport 11s.

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This is one of John Smith's P-40s. It's an ex-RAF order P-40E that went to the RNZAF and is undergoing a ground up restoration and will eventually be sold.

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So, that's it from Omaka. More images here: Mosquito Day

Thanks for looking.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Jeff Hunt]

Outstanding set. Thanks for sharing!

Cheers

Jeff

 

[Crimea_River]

Excellent shots Grant. I like getting low for ground shots too and a ditch sure helps! Not a pleasant job priming the Mosquito. It was a strange feature that it had to be done externally and it seems to have survived through all marks.

 

[Airframes]

Great pics Grant.

 

[Gnomey]

Excellent shots Grant!