Warbirds heading for Awatoto skies

Devoted flyer Mike Harris with his latest addition to the hangar - a Grumman Hellcat. Photo / Warren Buckland

The skies over Awatoto will fill with the sounds of propellers, rotor blades and jet engines this weekend as the Warbirds over Awatoto sparks into aerial
life.

There may also be a rocket or two fired.

The annual event is staged by Model Flying Hawke's Bay and as it has in past years drawn a large number of diverse aircraft "piloted" by model flying enthusiasts from all over the country.

Model Flying Hawke's Bay secretary Brett Robinson said there had been 32 registrations by the start of the week although he expected more, as some flyers watched and worked in with weather forecasts, and with the weekend weather looking good he said the late calls would likely come.

Robinson said they expecting at least 60 aircraft to hit the grass runways and colour the skies at the club's Awatoto airfield off Watchman Rd during the Saturday and Sunday event.

"This year it actually looks like being an event with an even broader range of models than we have had in the past," he said.

Helicopters will be a strong part of that range, with three local enthusiasts set to put on a jaw-dropping display.

Robinson had been out at the airfield watching them practicing and was blown away.

"What they can do with radio-controlled helicopters is amazing."

Another rotor-power enthusiast, Carl Hansen from Whangārei, will arrive with five large scale turbine helicopters, and he is rated one of the best scale model chopper pilots in the country and if conditions are right will provide the crowd with a spectacular sight.

"His large scale Mil-8 fires rockets while flying," Robinson said.

New Zealand radio-control aerobatic champion will also Frazer Briggs be at the event and will put on two shows each day.

On the local front, one of the club's long-term members Mike Harris will put his remarkable, and powerful, Grumman F6F Hellcat through its paces.

It is impressive at 2.4m in length, weighs in at around 20kg and has a 100cc petrol engine.

Twelve radio control channels are required to operate it.

"It's turned out nicely," he said, adding that if someone was to build one from scratch start to finish from the American-sourced Ziroli plans it would take around five to six months.

But his build was "on and off" and therefore took eight years as he wanted everything to be absolutely spot on.

It has joined his squadron of now four large radio-controlled models, with the others having been flown at the Awatoto event for the past 12 years.

He has been with the club for 30 years and has loved model aircraft since he was a kid.

"I built kitsets and gliders when I was a boy and it's just grown from there."

Like the rest of the pilots preparing for take-off this weekend, he was looking forward to again flying at the "best airfield in New Zealand."

The event will take place between 10am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday, and the entry fee for spectators is $5 "per carload".

Robinson said drinks, food, coffee and icecream outlets would be on site.