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Warbirds over Wanaka 2024

This is my report on the Warbirds Over Wanaka Air Show for 2024. It had been over 10 years since I had been to a show (thanks mainly to COVID) so I just had to get there this year! 70,000 other agreed with me, making this the best attended show yet. I was ably assisted taking videos and photos by my daughter, Nicole, so thanks for that!

The stars of this show were the F16 Fighting Falcon, AKA Viper, and the Mosquito fighter bomber from World War II. The C17 Globemaster III was also there, but only did a short display, for some reason. The American Eagles Aerobatic Team from the USA did a very impressive precision display in their L39 jets.

I used a Canon EOS-70D with a 75-300 mm lens (equivalent focal length about 480 mm) for the close up photos, and an Apple iPhone Pro Max for the movies and wide angle shots. Photos were processed in PixelMator Pro on a MacBookPro.

This is one of 4 L39s flown by the "American Eagles"'Jet Formation Aerobatic Team from the USA. They were very tigh…

There is a tradition at Wanaka of having a mock battle and a massed flypast to end each show. They have a bit of fu…

The C17 Globemaster III is a large (but not the largest) United States Air Force transport plane, used for strategi…

The F16 was the star of the show for many, being the fastest and, by a considerable margin, the loudest aircraft on…

The Hercules is one of the most successful aircraft ever, and has been continuously modified over the decades to ke…

The de Havilland DH98 Mosquito was a very versatile World War II aircraft, and was used as a light bomber, fighter-…

There were many other planes flown at the show, but I tried to spend most time on those I hadn't seen before and ha…

This is the RNZAF parachute display team, Kiwi Blue, part of the RNZAF PTSU (Parachute Training and Support Unit). …