TVAL Flying Weekend December 26-27th at Hood Aerodrome, Masterton NZ

[Jamo]

Anyone else going to the next TVAL Flying Weekend?



Will beat shopping at a crowded mall any day!

[Pgtaylorart]

Once again, I jealous of you, James! I'm on the wrong side of the world!

George

[Jamo]

Time for a brief update. Always important: the weather. Gorgeous hot sunny Boxing Day with no wind, perfect conditions for flying. Remember this is an informal event with virtually no promotion other then on Facebook. It is more about giving the volunteer pilots some flying time on various aircraft categories - there is no timetable. There were about a dozen spectators



Many of the collection's aircraft were on display, including the Hanriot HD1 which has not flown yet in public.











Unfortunately my camera ran out of battery power after only a few shots, and I discovered that my second battery had not been recharged. Doh! How stupid is that. So the majority of these photos were taken on my cellphone, a Samsung S6.











Check out the castor oil residue after a flight







I took a few photos of the new BE2e with the sun shining through the clear doped linen as many modellers try to capture the effect









The Fokker EV did some flying. One of the pilots, John Lanham (ex RNZAF) mentioned this was the best dogfighter in the collection but a bit tricky in the ground and a bit underpowered.







The Nieuport Bebe went up. It is a regular performer and is very nimble.



The Hanriot started up eventually after providing the ground crew with much vigorous prop spinning practice, but it didn't fly until the early evening by which time the spectators had mostly left. This was for a photo shoot:





Here is Gene DeMarco giving it plenty







Avro 504 in the sun



I took some more close ups of the Clerget engine fitted to the new Sopwith Camel that may help Lukasz with his latest model in development

















I didn't stay all afternoon seeing as my camera was out of action and the cellphone has no zoom for flying shots. And coming the next day wasn't possible due to family commitments. Ah well, lesson learned for the next show on the last weekend of January.

[Des]

Thanks James for the wonderful collection of photos, what an incredible sight to see so many WW1 aircraft all lined up together.

Des.

[uncletony]

Wow!

[Pgtaylorart]

Only about a dozen spectators? Talk about having a front row seat!!

George

[PrzemoL]

Pity with the batteries...
But still, I envy you, to live so close to that paradise for WW1 aviation freaks, so that you can recompensate for the discharged batteries a month later...
Many thanks for sharing these photos and making me even more dreaming of coming to NZ one day.

[Nigel Jackson]

Sorry I'm late on these, James, but as Bo says, wow! Thanks you for posting them.

Best wishes
Nigel

[lcarroll]

   I'm late as well Jamo; thanks for these, your efforts are very much appreciated!
Cheers,
Lance

[KiwiZac]

Seeing that the Hanriot was actually on the field made me disappointed to miss this one, so my fingers are extra crossed for this Sunday. Great shots! Hopefully we'll bump into each other again.