Classic Fighters reveal a world-first

It’s never been done anywhere in the world before, and it’s happening right in our backyard in September this year.

The terrifying German revenge weapons of the Second World War, the V1 and V2 ‘flying bombs’, will be seen together for the first time at this year’s Yealands Classic Fighters Airshow.

Scheduled for the Easter weekend, and postponed due to Covid restrictions, the airshow will take place on the Father’s Day weekend of September 3-5, and is promising more entertainment than ever before.

‘‘With our 20th anniversary, people want to see something from each of the previous shows,’’ airshow director Graham Orphan said.

Past shows have featured the V1 bombs, known as ‘Doodlebugs’ during the war. These have been dramatically blown up during performances at the airshows, with one even being created to ‘unexpectedly’ do a fly-pass down the crowd line.

‘‘No-one had actually seen one of these fly since the WWII era anywhere in the world, so that was a cool thing to do,’’ Orphan said, adding that they have that down to a fine art now.

Ten years ago, a V2 rocket was also built and blown up in sensational fashion. ‘‘When it comes to airshow spectacle, that’s pretty much as spectacular as anything ever seen anywhere in the world at an airshow,’’ Orphan said.

‘‘What’s never happened ever, anywhere, is a V1 and a V2 being seen at the same place at the same weekend, so that’s what we’re doing this year,’’ Orphan revealed.

‘‘We’re going to recreate the entire arrival at the site of the rocket with all its support equipment, such as fuel tanks and generators.’’

‘‘It’s taking a snapshot of a time in history, and saying ‘well, let’s take our guests there for a bit of an adventure.’ So they get a history lesson, a bit of adventure, and a whole lot of spectacle as well.’’

Going through the history of the last century from the Edwardian era, other theatrics in the plan include a pioneer race.

‘‘It’s very Orwellian – quite slapstick,’’ Orphan said.

Harking back to that strange time when people were transitioning from horses and buggies into mechanised transportation, this performance will see penny-farthing bicycles racing down the crowd line.

‘‘We’ve got the earliest motor vehicles, veteran ‘brass era’ cars, and of course pioneer aeroplanes, which is unusual in itself.’’

The show will also be growing the focus on the 1930s and the whole art deco era.

‘‘One thing about the 1930s they just nailed was style – everything was so stylish – we’re going to bring a bit of that back to the airshow as well.’’

There are a few additional things Orphan is keeping under the radar for now, but says they have more creative content this year than they’ve ever had ‘‘by quite a large jump.’’

Three months out things are coming together, Orphan said, with pretty much everything in place.

‘‘We have aircraft coming from around the country, and our own fleet of aircraft here being prepared to fly for the show.’’

‘‘On top of that, we have very encouraging ticket sales, on par to where we’ve been in the past, so that augers well for what is for us a new experimental time of the year,’’ he said.

‘‘I think fathers are saying ‘I know what I want for Father’s Day’, so I’m sure that has a role to play, and we’ve got some great support from some great companies.

‘‘I’m pretty sure it’s the biggest thing ever to happen here involving human beings.’’

RICKY WILSON/STUFF The Yealands Classic Fighters Airshow promises more theatrics this year than ever seen before. This image was taken during the 2019 show.