Todays Temora pics (Warbirds)

[No457 Snowy]

Had a great day as usual, I love the smell of Avgas in the morning!

I Didn't get as many pics as usual, but here they are, enjoy!




















Cheers,

Snowy

[Treza360]

Funny I was reading about this place in this months Top Gear. Sounds like an awesome day out. I love WWII fighters. Wicked.
Cheers,
Trent

[Blitzen]

P-51...Cadillac of the skies!!!

How sexy is that Meteor!! The Spitfire looks amazing, and that CAC Sabre is as hot as 10 hot things!!

There was recently a Air show at RAAF Townsville that I missed, but I saw that they had the USAF Thunderbirds display team, at least one F-4 Phantom, and few C-17's, a KC-10 and a P-51....

[No457 Snowy]

I love the sound of the Merlin engine, just makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and gives me a shiver. Love the whistle of the supercharger!!

The Meteor makes a strange low sounding note as the air passes over the shell ejection ports, a bit like when you blow air across the top of a bottle. A very haunting and distinctive sound.

[GoLfMan]

awesome Snowy

love the sound of the Merlin aswell, just so soothing.

Have a massive soft spot for Sabre's, one of the coolest early jets ever!

was that Spitty a genuine one?

[mikepologti]

nice pics there snowy , i used to love building ww2 model air planes when i was a kid and still have a passion for watching them now.

[Buller_Scott]

man, when i was a kid i loved those elastic spitfire wind-up kits you could get from model shops that you could wind the propeller, and launch into the sky... they'd glide for yonks....

great shots!

[No457 Snowy]

Yep, all the aircraft are the real deal, there are two flying Spitfires in Australia, both of them are at Temora. The one in my pics is a MKVIII and they also have a MKXVI.
Here's a little history of the Spitfire in my pic:

This aircraft was the last Spitfire acquired by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It was built by Supermarine in England in 1944, test flown and then shipped to Australia. The Air Force took delivery of the aircraft in April 1945. With World War II drawing to a close, the aircraft was not required on active service and was placed into storage.

After the war, the aircraft was used at Sydney Technical College as an instructional airframe. It was then acquired by Mr. Sid Marshall who stored it, disassembled, at Bankstown until 1982. Mr. Colin Pay of Scone obtained the Spitfire and began a detailed restoration program which was completed in 1985 when the aircraft flew again.

The aircraft is painted in the green and grey camouflage colours worn by the RAAF aircraft defending Darwin during World War II and in operations in the South West Pacific. The aircraft carries the markings of Wing Commander R.H. (Bobby) Gibbes AM WG CMR DSO DFC*.


Cheers,

Snowy.

[Treza360]

P-51...Cadillac of the skies!!!

I've always preferred the Mustang to the Spitfire.
It's purely for aesthetic reasons though. I like the bubble canopy fuselage lines more than the Spitfire. The wing shape of the Spitfire is nicer though.
Cheers,
Trent

[Blitzen]

Saying that though, I thought the sexiest versions of the Spitfire were wthe MK XX and MK XXII with the Rolls Royce Griffon engine, bubble canopy, and 5 bladed(MK XX) and 6 bladed contra rotating (MK XXII) propellers.

[No457 Snowy]

The Griffin engined Spitfire was a beast. Nearing the end of WWII when Australia was looking for a new high alt fighter for the RAAF it came down to the Spitfire VIII or the Mustang.

The Spitfire had a better rate of climb and superb manouverability, the Mustang had great speed and diving ability and also greatly superior fuel capacity. The deal breaker for the Spitfire was that it was so damn finicky to build compared to the Mustang. I think we built 200 CAC Mustangs at Fisherman's Bend, finishing up in 1951.

Both beautiful planes though, I love them both!


Cheers,

Snowy