Last month’s ‘Come Fly With Me’ event was organised by Guenther Wesche and Lyz Miller at the North Shore Aero Club. There was a very good turnout from club members with a passion for automobiles and aeroplanes combined.
We started with a tour organised through the hangars where planes were in various stages of being rebuilt. The planes’ owners each talked about their pride and joy and the many, many hours of dedicated work to restore the plane to its former glory.
There was the WWII Grasshopper, a light spotter aircraft. The guide explained it was the heaviest armed aircraft in WWII which was hard to believe since there was not a gun in sight. However he went on to explain its role was to be an artillery spotter and if the enemy dared to reveal themselves, then a quick radio call would have shells raining down on them.
There was the Vampire jet which resembles a giant Meccano set. The owner’s mission is to restore it back to flying condition or be buried in it. There was also the rescue helicopter tour that was fascinating.
Unfortunately, the Weather Gods were not looking favourably on us and although the budding pilots were briefed in the basics of keeping a plane in the air, the opportunity to put our Biggles skills to the test faded away. But we will be back to fly the North Shore skies soon.
A big thank you to Guenther and Lyz for a great day out and to share in the passion of flight.
Chris Haliday
