WINGS OVER WAIRARAPA

TRUST HOUSE WINGS OVER WAIRARAPA 2011

JANUARY 2011

WE WILL REMEMBER!

Well what an understatement the “We Will Remember” theme turned out to be!  We have just paddled to the edge of the lake that Hood Aerodrome became on Sunday and are beginning the inevitable job of cleaning up!  For those of you that we have not already communicated with directly we are as disappointed as you that we had to cancel the show on Sunday however the four inches of rain on Sunday morning left us with little choice.  Hopefully those of you that joined us on Friday and Saturday enjoyed yourselves and what you saw was enough to whet your appetite for 2013!

REFUND POLICY

For those of you who had pre-purchased tickets for the Sunday of the show, refunds are being managed through Ticketek (0800 TICKETEK or www.ticketek.co.nz) and we ask those of you affected to contact them directly.  Although the processing of these refunds is at an additional cost to us we stand by our policy of employing a ticketing agency to independently manage our tickets to ensure that in this very unlikely event of a cancellation you get your money back.  There have been some occasions where air shows have been cancelled and people haven’t received their money back - we certainly don’t want any of our visitors to be put in that situation.

VETERANS

The weather aside one of the many highlights that we did enjoy over the weekend was the company of the many WWII veterans who joined us and got to be reunited with some of their old mates and their old aircraft to boot!  We have had feedback from a number of people saying how moving the tribute to them was not to mention to having the opportunity to meet with a number of them and to get their autographs.  I know that they all enjoyed themselves immensely and we look forward to seeing as many of them as are able back again in 2013.

FLYING DISPLAY

Despite the weather that eventually led to the cancellation of the Sunday display, the standard of the flying display and aircraft on the Friday and Saturday was second to none.  Airshow attendees were treated to WOW debuts of the two Vintage Aviator BE2’s along with the rest of the collection that flew on both days.  These WWI aircraft are relatively new on the airshow scene, but they have quickly become a crowd favourite.  The two civilian display teams, the Roaring Forties and the Russian Knights had the large crowd on their feet during their respective displays. As did Doug Brooker in his MX2.  The RNZAF put on their usual tight display with the Red Checkers welcomed back onto the display circuit by everyone. The C-130 display was a highlight for many.  As part of the Cessna 180 / 185 birthday there was not only a large collection of the type on the field, but also a fantastic display was put on showing the type off to many who had never seen them in action before.  The high speed display put on by the jets was something not many had seen before.  The two ship L-39 formation and the Vampire put on a crowd pleasing display that not many had seen before, but would be keen to see again.  As always, the airshow highlight for many was the display by Keith Skilling in the Corsair.  The high speed passes and aerobatic manoeuvres of this aircraft was just breath taking.  The two P-40’s and the ME108 also put on a spirited display, once again underling the crowd pulling ability of the WW2 era aircraft.  Along with the ground theatre that was part of the show ending airfield attack, these aircraft keep the crowd enthralled until the very end.

PHOTOS TO FACEBOOK

There have already been some great photos from Saturday’s show posted on our Face book page (if you are not already a friend check it out on http://www.facebook.com/WOWairshow) so any of you with photos that you would like to share please feel free to post them for all to enjoy.

Please do let contact us (email: info@wings.org.nz) if there is any specific information about the 2011 or future shows that you require; if not watch this space for regular newsletters.

Again we thank you for your understanding and support of Sunday’s cancellation (please believe that if we could have given you a three day show we would have!) but we hope that a good many of you got to have a great weekend anyway! We look forward to seeing you in 2013!

Best wishes from all of us.

THE 2011 WINGS OVER WAIRARAPA TEAM!