This year marks the centenary of military aviation in Australia, and where better to celebrate it than at RAAF Williams in my hometown of Point Cook. The RAAF base is the birthplace of military aviation in Australia and the oldest continually operating military airfield in the world. They're putting on a special Airshow over the weekend featuring Royal Australian Air Force aircraft from WW1 to the modern day. By a stroke of good fortune, it’s also my birthday today, which means I get to choose what we do. So it’s happy birthday to the RAAF, and happy birthday to me.
It
surprised me just how excited I was about the airshow, which was probably because I had such good memories of them from when my dad used to take us along when we were kids. It may have been almost thirty years ago, but I'll never forget the Red Arrows, the Harriers or the Tornados shooting and swooping across the sky. The Red Arrows were celebrities in their own right back then, and I absolutely adored them, as most kids did. I continued to be a big fan even when I found out my Uncle Clive wasn't actually one of their pilots (my wicked parents tricked me into believing he was: it took me another five years to work out although he had been in the RAF, he was one of those boring electronics nerds.)
Anyway, back to the Airshow. Alison hadn’t been to an Airshow before, and wasn't feeling quite as excited. She looked bored before we even got there. I think she had this idea that it would be full of middle aged boring old farts with binoculars. But enough about me. When it came down to it, I knew she'd be amazed by the aerial acrobatics and death defying fly pasts once she got up close. And there was always the RAAF Puppy school demonstration if that didn't work.
The morning and early afternoon were more about nostalgia with a series of flybys and demonstrations by various aircraft from either of the two world wars. This was also a good time to have a wander across the airfield at the various exhibits, stalls and demonstrations. I was still a little worried about how Alison was enjoying the show, so I made a beeline for the RAAF Puppy school straight away - it was an absolute winner. Very cute. Straight after that we saw a demo of how viscious theose adorable little puppies are once they've graduated from training school, as they tore a heavily protected soldier to shreds. Not so cute.
Meanwhile back in the air, the action was heating up. First we had the Australian equivalent of the Red Arrows, or the Roulettes, as they like to be called. They were awesome, but I really think they need a new name. Roulettes sounds a bit, well, like a cheerleader troupe. I particularly liked the double fly past where one of the jets was inverted - I do hope the pilot at the top was taking a polaroid, as Goose did in the movie Top Gun. Well I would of, it must have been a terrific view from say four or five metres. There followed a perfectly choreographed and slightly manical routine with two helicopters, which seemed to defy logic and gravity at the same time.
Then with a shudder and a sonic boom heard throughout the Wyndham suburbs, the real stars of the show arrived. Four F18 Hornets jetted in at supersonic speeds in close formation. If the huge crowd felt the need for speed, then their prayers were answered. Yee haw. They buzzed the tower, they shot anti missiles flares whilst doing loop the loops, they simulated one on one air combat just a few hundred feet above our heads,heck at one point I could have sworn they did a negative 4G inverted dive. Whatever that is. It may have been a walk above the Point Cook Coastal Park for them, but to us mere mortals and ground dwellers, it was real genius. Absolutely loved it. Book me in for next year, just make sure the puppies are there again for Alison, just in case.
Anyway, back to the Airshow. Alison hadn’t been to an Airshow before, and wasn't feeling quite as excited. She looked bored before we even got there. I think she had this idea that it would be full of middle aged boring old farts with binoculars. But enough about me. When it came down to it, I knew she'd be amazed by the aerial acrobatics and death defying fly pasts once she got up close. And there was always the RAAF Puppy school demonstration if that didn't work.
The morning and early afternoon were more about nostalgia with a series of flybys and demonstrations by various aircraft from either of the two world wars. This was also a good time to have a wander across the airfield at the various exhibits, stalls and demonstrations. I was still a little worried about how Alison was enjoying the show, so I made a beeline for the RAAF Puppy school straight away - it was an absolute winner. Very cute. Straight after that we saw a demo of how viscious theose adorable little puppies are once they've graduated from training school, as they tore a heavily protected soldier to shreds. Not so cute.
Meanwhile back in the air, the action was heating up. First we had the Australian equivalent of the Red Arrows, or the Roulettes, as they like to be called. They were awesome, but I really think they need a new name. Roulettes sounds a bit, well, like a cheerleader troupe. I particularly liked the double fly past where one of the jets was inverted - I do hope the pilot at the top was taking a polaroid, as Goose did in the movie Top Gun. Well I would of, it must have been a terrific view from say four or five metres. There followed a perfectly choreographed and slightly manical routine with two helicopters, which seemed to defy logic and gravity at the same time.
Then with a shudder and a sonic boom heard throughout the Wyndham suburbs, the real stars of the show arrived. Four F18 Hornets jetted in at supersonic speeds in close formation. If the huge crowd felt the need for speed, then their prayers were answered. Yee haw. They buzzed the tower, they shot anti missiles flares whilst doing loop the loops, they simulated one on one air combat just a few hundred feet above our heads,
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