Dawn parades and other ceremonies are a feature of Anzac Day, often with various current and former military aircraft participating in various ways. Today at Wellington I saw a UH-1H Iroquois departing and a P3K Orion performing a pass down the main runway on its way to or from a ceremony somewhere. One thing I had never previously noticed on the P3K was what apears to be a FLIR or camera mount on the bottom of the fuselage under the cockpit. Not at all surprising [considering the aircraft is used for maritime survelliance and search and rescue]... but is it me being paranoid, or is the camera pointing at me in both shots??? :-) [click on the images for the close ups]
Also, Brendon Deere's awesome Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IX landed at Wanganui and the locals were able to get out and around it for a short time. A resident spotter in training ["Hi Dad!"] managed to get a few pictures of this also.
That spitfire looks awesome. Good to see that its able to fly for the ANZAC flypasts. Must be a awesome sounding engine.
ReplyDeleteThe FLIR turret has been there for many years. I recall getting a demo at Wellington Airport many, many years ago courtesy of the AHSNZ (and of course RNZAF). I also got a look at the inside at Whenuapai in March.
ReplyDeleteI also saw the Orion this morning and it gave us a bit of a fright as it roared over the hill behind our house at VERY low level! We saw the Iroquois going over too and I will soon upload some shots of it arriving in Wellington yesterday.