This weekend just gone was “Wings over the Illawarra” a celebration of flying put on by HARS, the Historic Aircraft Restoration Society. Around 35000 people crammed into the Albion Park aerodrome for the day (how they all fitted I have no idea but the traffic around the venue was hideous).
Having been born not long after WWII, I have always had a fascination for WWII aircraft. My primary school library was filled with “adventure” books, especially all the yarns that had come out of WWII and I devoured them assiduously. “Reach for the Sky” the biography of “Tin Legs” Bader, “The Dam Busters” by Paul Brickhill and many others were the staple, as well as lots of non-flying stories like Pat Reid’s “The Colditz Story”, “the Great Escape” by Paul Brickhill and “The Wooden Horse” by Eric Williams. But despite my on-going fascination with the era, I couldn’t face jostling with the traffic and the crowds on Sundayso I gave it a miss.
Imagine, then, my delight yesterday afternoon when, driving past the aerodrome, a genuine, fair-dinkum P51 Mustang flew overhead and landed on the runway next to the road. I was locked in the right lane of traffic and couldn’t pull over and take a picture, but, what a thrill.
Just like this one..
I remember when Paul and I were about 12 our uncle gave us a Monogram construction kit called the “Phantom Mustang.”
http://www.internetmodeler.com/2001/…ang_review.htm
We took ages to carefully build it and it lasted for years. It had 3 (from memory) electric motors in the base that operated the landing gear, the propellor and the bomb release mechanisms. Now that does bring back memories.
sanoptic says
Thats a nice looking aircraft ,bet it sounds fantastic too. Normally commercial pilots own & fly old type aircraft ,they say flying Jumbo’s & such is like driving a bus [which it is] & flying Mustangs & similar is like driving a porsche or ferrari.
cheers