Seat-of the-pants flying on show
The skies over Ha¯ wera were abuzz with vintage biplanes flying loops and dropping fake bombs over the weekend.
About 10 Tiger Moths and a number of other aircraft flew in to the Ha¯ wera Aero Club on Friday for the Tiger Moth Club of NZ’s annual meeting, which was preceded by a safari trip around New Zealand, club member Ken Jones said.
Early arrivals flew around the mountain and then a competition day was held on Saturday, with spot landing contests, ‘‘bombing’’ (where pilots dropped an object from 3000 feet aiming for targets on the ground) and another where they looped the loop attempting to make a perfect circle.
‘‘They try to start and finish in the same place and make it round, not an egg shape,’’ he said.
Club members were people who were enchanted by the Tiger Moth and the era it come from, John Baynes, who had flown his 1940 Tiger Moth up from his home in Gore, said.
Tiger Moths had a proud place in history as the aircraft used for training pilots who went on to fly Spitfires and other aircraft during World War II, and in the years afterwards, he said.
‘‘Tiger Moths are easy to fly badly and hard to fly well so they were ideal for training.’’
The open cockpit meant pilots could smell what was going on on the ground below them.
‘‘You fly over bush when it’s been raining and smell the steaming bush, and if there’s a fire on the ground you smell that,’’ he said.
‘‘We all go home with ruddy complexions from being windblown. There’s nothing like it on a nice day. They’re like a magic carpet.’’
Amanda Rutland, of Christchurch, and Jeanette Lei, of Taumarunui, flew in on Friday in a 1941 Tiger Moth.
‘‘It’s seat of the pants flying. It’s the essence of flying, with an open cockpit,’’ Lei said.
‘‘There’s nothing flash, just back to basics flying,’’ Rutland added.