Walking around the Illawarra Regional Airport for the Wings Over Illawarra air show was like wandering through segments of time.
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Planes and helicopters from different era were scattered around the grounds and in the sky, much to the delight of the thousands who made it through the gates.
There were dozens of birds with beautiful names like Albatross, Connie, Spitfire, Caribou, Kittyhawk, Catalina, Sabre, Dragonfly and Hercules. However, the Mustang is said to be the pin-up model.
“It’s such an iconic machine, I don’t think there’s many pilots in the world who don’t have a secret desire to fly one,” said co-owner Geoff Kubank.
The retired military and QANTAS pilot is one of 11 men to own the CA-18 Mustang on display.
Red Bull pilot Matt Hall also owns a piece and was seen ripping up the skies with great acceleration and speed into aerobatics.
The plane, named “Snifter” after a wartime cartoon, is one of 200 built in Australia during the 1940’s. It was sent to Japan in 1946 and also fought in the Korean war in 1950.
The current group of owners purchased it 20 years ago, restoring it and adding a second seat for joyrides to help fund it’s ongoing upkeep.
Co-owner Commercial Airline pilot Mark Hall said it’s “an unbelievable privilege” to be able to jump in the cockpit when he wants.
He’s been to the air show at Albion Park several times and believes it’s now rated as a world class event.
“We’ve been [to Wings Over Illawarra] before and it’s always been very well run, it’s now gotten to a high level,” he said.
Geoff Cutts from Sutherland has been to the air show at least three times and loves looking at old planes.
He and his father Alan were involved in the restoration of “Connie” the Super Constellation 15 years ago, and helped retrieving the wreck from Tuscon in the US.
“What I found good was working with these old engineers that have this wealth of knowledge inside them that they’re passing on, to keep the old things running,” he said.
“There won’t be many people left soon with the knowledge to work on these things, the training’s not around anymore for them. So eventually that Connie won’t fly any more.”
Wings Over Illawarra continues on Sunday.