Wings festival warms hearts despite washout
Wings Over Wairarapa may have been rained out but it still brought together people with a common history who might never have crossed paths otherwise.
Cynthia Williams travelled from Noosa, Australia, to see an FE2B aircraft like the one her grandfather flew in World War I.
It is part of the Vintage Aviator collection based at Hood Aerodrome at Masterton.
Also at Wings was Masterton man Michael Bell, whose father Cheviot Bell also flew an FE2B in WWI.
Wings media manager Katie Farman said it was an extraordinary twist considering the disappointment of having to call off the three-day festival because of poor weather.
‘‘It’s an amazing story, a total coincidence, the type of thing that Wings is all about really, so we are all really happy to have had a part in helping these people come together and exchange their stories.’’
Williams’ grandfather, Sergeant Thomas Mottershead, received a Victoria Cross for bravery, after saving the life of his observer by crash-landing. The plane was doing reconnaissance when it was shot down over France.
Mottershead died from injuries sustained in the crash-landing.
Bell said his father was studying at Cambridge University when war broke out. He received only nine hours of training before being sent up in the plane.
‘‘They were taught to crash before they were taught to fly and my father crashed nine times and only broke his ankle once and thankfully survived the war,’’ he said.
Williams said she found out there was a operational FE2B at Hood Aerodrome and made the trip especially to see the plane that her grandfather had flown so many years ago.
‘‘I was totally stunned. It was just magic,’’ she said.
Vintage Aviator production manager Gene de Marco said it was tremendous to be able to meet people who had a real connection to aircraft in the collection.
‘‘The FE2B we have is probably the only one in the world that still gets airborne. It was great to be able to show the aircraft to these people together and to hear their stories.
The Vintage Aviator collection boasts arguably the finest array of still flying original and restored WWI aircraft in the world.