the nearby airforce base, ohakea, had their 80th anniversary event this weekend. i wanted to go, but had no way to get there since i dont trust the bike on the open road. late friday night, my buddy mike asked if i wanted to go with him and his daughter. needless to say, i jumped at the chance.

it was an early start, as we had to pick up his daughter in another town first. once we had her, we used the park and ride... park at a designated spot, and get a free bus to and from the event.
the sky was pretty clear, and we managed to get a bit burned, despite layering on the sunscreen, hats and using whatever shade we could find. there must have been 10,000+ people in attendance, including crews and planes from other countries.

this was possibly the most well organised event i have ever attended. from the park and ride, to the traffic management on state highway one, to the huge number of food and drinks stalls and accompanying portaloos. they had everything under control, 100%.

i dont know much about planes, and cant identify most so expect very few captions from here on. one plane did drop two supply boxes on parachutes, but i didnt get the camera out in time

managed to get one of the traffic control guys in this shot as we sped by.

parachutists with smoke cannisters. one was steering the other, somehow.

airforce and new zealand flags

just missed a crewman being winched down from this chopper.

upside down and around about.

NZRAF

this crewman accidentally walked into the shot. just after i pressed the button, he had snapped to attention with ankles together. poor guy, lol.

no prizes for guessing my favourite of the day!

this came very close to breaking the sound barrier, and it scared more than a couple of kids into tears. was silent, silent and then the roar would hit. very hard to capture in the frame, and all the videos i got are useless as it was too fast.

if memory serves, this did break the sound barrier several times and also dropped "bombs" on the field

the final squadron

these two wouldnt fit in the original post.