Mudgee Air Show Report – Wings, Wheels and Wine

WarbirdsNews’ regular correspondent in Australia, Phil Buckley, recently sent us an article and photographs from his visit to the Wings, Wheels and Wine Air Show in Mudgee, New South Wales. Mudgee is about 150 miles west of Sydney, and in the heart of Australia’s beautiful wine region.

By Phil Buckley.

The Mudgee Aero Club organized the annual Wings, Wheels and Whine air show in April. With fabulous flying taking place above the New South Wales wine growing region, several thousand people turned up to watch the action. The popular event saw civil, military and warbird aircraft both on static display and flying. The fete also featured drag races on the runway from high performance cars, one of them even  jet powered. The warbirds were a prominent part of the show, and included a Grumman TBM-3 Avenger, CAC Wirraway, Savoia-Marchetti S.211, Yakovlev Yak-52 and an Antonov AN-2. The low-level flying of the Avenger and Wirraway thrilled the crowd, and gave them appreciation for the pilot’s skills and the aircraft’s beauty. A diverse array of other aircraft types attended the show, ranging from the Pilatus PC-9s from the RAAF Roulettes aerobatic display team and the indigenous Air Tractor AT-802 water bomber to a Bell 206 JetRanger, hang gliders, gyrocopters, and Pitts aerobatic biplanes.

The airshow action was kept varied throughout the day to keep the crowd interested with a series of races between the high performance cars and the Pitts Special biplanes down the runway which thrilled the crowd, along with the roar and heat from the speedy Daihatsu Jet Car. The AT-802 waterbomber also demonstrated its water dropping capabilities as well. The event was included something for the whole family from amusements for the kids, local stalls, wine tasting displays and good food. The organisers managed to bring together a highly varied range of aviation and automobile acts which gave the visitors a broad look at parts of Australia’s history, while highlighting her aviation industry at the same time. Much appreciation is due the Mudgee Aero Club volunteers, and to the pilots and organizations that attended for putting on another great air show in Mudgee.

Please see the slide show for more photographs!

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