Ohakea Open Day # 12: RNZAF Red Checkers

Just as an airshow would not be complete without ex-military aircraft being displayed, the same could be said for the RNZAF Red Checkers display team. They seem to get invited to most airshows around the country, and the RNZAF seems to make a genuine effort to accommodate as many as they reasonably can [although I suspect that if you just want to put on a display for a couple of your mates, you're out of luck!!].

There's no doubt that this team, made up of Air Force instructor pilots, has an immense amount of talent, and putting together a 9-ship formation is not exactly easy, but I have to say that compared to the F-111 dump and burn, and Doug Brooker displaying his MX-2 [next post], these displays start to look a "little the same" once you've seen a few of them.

Before you start flaming me..!... I want to reiterate, that these aircraft are being flown by extremely capable pilots, but let's face it, a CT4/E [even in the most capable hands] is just not as exciting as an F-111, or an MX-2, or even [dare I say it] a C130 being thrown around.

The lynch mod will be formed outside my home tomorrow at 5:15 pm :-)

Still, their two-ship mirror and the 3rd barrel rolling just behind them does look pretty awesome [but I didn't get any photos of this... stink!].

Here are some photos of the of the 9-ship formation prior to the Red Checkers breaking out into the rest of their display.