Three-thousand-and-something kilometres ...

[westfrogger]

With far too little planning air show day arrived. As usual we were there first thing. Just like they said there were some aircraft.

:lol8:

 

[Dish]

Menno Parson's Mustang P51 - Fondly known as Mustang Sally.  Beautiful aircraft and always beautifully flown at all the air shows..... such a privilege to have that in South Africa (Rand I believe)

 

[westfrogger]

All too soon it was time to head home again. To face that straight stripe (barring a few minor kinks) between Marienthal and Keetmans again. I like Windhoek, it seems like a great place to launch a 101 adventures from.

Once more we overnighted at the White House.

And I don't want to hear any complaints about all the sunrise/sunset photographs. I spent all the daylight hours waiting for the next telephone tower between Keetmans and Marienthal remember ... :evil5:

 

[Clockwork Orange]

You sure know how to take a good photo. Really enjoyed this.

 

[DirtRebell]

With far too little planning air show day arrived. As usual we were there first thing. Just like they said there were some aircraft.

:lol8:

So, apart from being an exceptional photographer you also seem to have well developed teasing qualities?

 

[westfrogger]

Here's another sunrise  :lol8:

On the way home we at long last discovered what Grünau looked like: it has a water tower, just like New York City. No Starbucks though and more pertinently no hipsters.

Scenery along the way is interesting when not viewed under starlight alone.

Stocked up on biltong at the local mall.

Nasa could've saved billions by diverting the Mars Rover to Noordoewer and surroundings instead. There is nothing. Nothing. Unless you are a geologist and get excited by rocks. Millions of rocks. I didn't see a single banana tree or fern. No waterfalls whatsoever. Lilo sales are not big here.

And the biggest surprise of them all is that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence (in this case in the Garies-ish region).

 

[westfrogger]

Time for a vote.

Do I tell you about the air show now

or

Go have breakfast first?

  :scratch:

 

[Dorsland]

hehehehe lekker RR this.  Great writing style.  Gooi nog.

 

[DirtRebell]

Time for a vote.

Do I tell you about the air show now

or

Go have breakfast first?

  :scratch:

Go have your protein shake quickly and laat waai with the pics!

 

[Dorsland]

Time for a vote.

Do I tell you about the air show now

or

Go have breakfast first?

 :scratch:

Now, now, now now, now.  We want it all and we want it now!

WE WANT THE P51 NOW  :deal:

 

[westfrogger]

AIR SHOW DAY.

The various weather forecasts that I managed to suck down predicted a balmy Namibia winter's day. Windhoek was going to be around 8°C at daybreak and rise to somewhere around 22-24°C. Not much wind either, in spite of a name that promises otherwise.

Being an old hand at the air show business I packed my bag the night before with freshly charged batteries and camera bits stuffed into all pockets, nooks and crevices. I had planned for all eventualities expect food and water ( ???) ... mostly because I could get anything the evening before – no shops nearby – and in part because we were warned that the Namibian authorities would not allow food or drinks to come into the air show area (so you can spend your hard-earned dollars on the vendors offerings). From the bottom up I had boots for the expected dust, light but tough trousers, a moisture wicking and overpriced long-sleeve shirt, a sleeveless down jacket (only 8°C remember!) and a cap. All set.

Long before the sun was up we found our way through the bustling nightlife of Windhoek and pointed east. The international airport (Hosea Kutako International Airport) is 40-something kilometres outside Windhoek: it was the nearest place they could find that was flat (or flattish). My eyebrows did the whoops thing when the car's German-spec-and-therefore-more-accurate-than-an-atomic-clock-not-so-2SD thermometer said 3°. How can they get the forecast that wrong? Of course the rookie mistake that I made was to bank on the simple but stoopid fact that Windhoek will be the same temperature as that plateau 40 kays east of the city. Hindsight. 20-20. I know. So by now, while in mild panic about freezing my arms off, we start cheering for a zero on the thermometer. We get a 2. The number flashes and an oompah band plays. Somewhere from under the dashboard an amply-chested fraulein grasping 12 sizeable weissbiers annouces that Bleck Aice Ken Be Enkountird Und Zat Ve Must Prosseeed Mit Kaution. By now I suggest we switch the air-conditiong on so that we can familiarise ourselves with the thermal shock we will encounter when the airport rolls up. Or we must watch the first few hours of the show from the car. Then we cheer: 0°C. We were halfway to the airport.

 

[westfrogger]

WE WANT THE P51 NOW  :deal:

Jinne Dorsland. There is a whole P-51 'stand at the top of the page!  ;D

 

[Dorsland]

I can recommend a good optometrist because this:

 

[Dorsland]

...... is clearly not in the same league as this:

 

[Dorsland]

Now Mr Westfrogger,  focus on the matter at hand please and give us some damn P51 pix.  With a close-up sound track too.























Surely that's not asking too  much from a man of your stature.  :lol8: :thumleft:

 

[westfrogger]

-2°. -3°.

The oompah band stopped and they went looking for bratwurst. I was still in one (een, eins, uno, ਇੱਕ) sleeveless jacket, but starting to feel warm with delirium. The fraulein started shouting at us "Gluhwein! Gluhwein! Gluhwein!".

-4°. -5°.

The mercury slid all the way to -7°C. And to think us unambitious travellers were cheering for 0. We considered setting fire to the car to stay warm, but couldn't find matches and we too little time to a) find sticks and b) rub them together. I wanted to offer my cameras to anyone with a survival suit but none to be found.

Two Windhoek bikers were standing wide-eyed next to their GSs clutching lukewarm coffee and just agreed with a vacant look when we said we saw -7° of the Celsius variety. Just standing still was good enough for them. We did eventually abandon the car and scuttled off to the queue to have our bags searched. That would be the queue of Namibian punters – some Afrikaans some German-speaking – wearing shorts! Shorts! And one short-wearing still agreed it was cold. And he was wearing shorts. As in PT shorts (i.e. very short shorts). Us Kaapies are far too soft for this lot. We complain when it dips into the upper teens. Single-digit temperatures are a regional emergency. Minuses are what we see on the Discovery Channel.

But we are all here for the air show. So let's get on to that ...

 

[westfrogger]

Dorsland, just for you ...

 

[Dorsland]

You have just blown your cover.  I think your buds took those cool pix.  I think you are just like a camera caddy, a gofer.  eepwall: :biggrin:









I'm going to hang around the "How to watch paint dry" thread for a while 'til the P51's get some air.

:lol8:

 

[westfrogger]

I tend to go to air shows with something of an open mind. There is always a list of promises and mostly lies about what will be there. Then the likes of the associations that control these matters step in and categorically state that, under the auspices of Section 3, Article 12.1, Clause B1653C:
a) The spectators shall be located no less than 5 km (kilometres) from the flight line
b) Said spectators shall require a Hubble telescope to see any flaying activities
c) Participating aircraft shall not fly lower than 7000 feet above the highest mountain within 4000 km (kilometre) radius of the flying area
d) Participating aircraft shall fly over residential and commercial areas instead, but the bloubaadjies shall chase you away if you watch from there
e) Brian Emmenis shall play Neil Diamond

Turns out in Namibia rules A through D do not apply.

3 minutes after stepping onto the apron and walking freely but nervously, as I clearly was not meant to be there, an Airbus A-3-something taxied by. Right there. If I was taller I could practically reach up and touch the wingtip.

Evidently I was going to be approached by the Secret Airport Security Police and asked for identification and grilled why I was not wearing a hiviz vest (airport camo  ;D). They'd confiscate my cameras, escort me to a bunker and do unspeakable things to me before repatriating me to the road between Marienthal and Keetmanshoop. It was simply not worth the risk. Until a Bell 222 approached the apron. Now for uninformed a 222 is what Air Wolf is based on – it's what can loosely be described as a sexy chopper. Very nice I thought.

And then it taxied over my head.

I napped a few thousand frames off on the helo until somebody safely dressed in a hiviz jacket asked me not to take any more photographs "as the tail rotor is very sensitive.". I think what he meant was the tail rotor is expensive and your head will be very sensitive when it makes contact with it. Fair enough, and he was nice enough not to confiscate my cameras and march me to a bunker.

The the Russian fired up. That would be the mighty single-engine Antonov AN-2, the largest single-engine aircraft in the world and the largest thing you are allowed to fly on a PPL.

Needless to say by now I was delirious with pleasure and oblivious of the cold. The trip had already been worthwhile and I was quite happy to climb into the car and transverse the stretch between Marienthal and Keetmans on my home home. Expect that was only the start ... for my next near-arrest-and-departation move and scrutinised the naughty bits of an Airbus A-330.

Like a fly to a steaming pile of curry I zoned in on ... wait for it ... the Cadillac of the Skies.

 

[westfrogger]

Did I mention that the P-Five-One wasn't the only warbird there? Also the North American T-28 Trojan, which sounds a bit like a thumper, so I liked it. Even if it didn't have knobblies.

Oh, and *yawn*, a Huey.

NSFW: picture of nekkid A-330 wazoo:

And from the other side, for those that are so inclined:

The show kicked off with Little Annie (AN-2) dispensing some meat bombs overheard. To keep the meat bombs orderly 3 Pitts Specials circled them like sheepdogs.

The Reds were well-represented in Namibia with a Yak-52 up next. This guy must be a gifted pilot as his smoke system dispensed most of the smoke into the cockpit from where it poured out into the sky. I think he pulled up when he could hear the spectators scream in anticipation of impact with the ground.

Photo tip: don't be shy pointing that lens towards the sun:

Harvards ... apparently the sponsor's name is pronounced Equustra not Extra (what do I know ... I haven't ridden a horse in decades and I don't live in Sandton).

See: South African air show rules do not apply here: