IPMS South Africa - Margate Airshow 2007 EAA Weekend

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Margate Airshow 2007 EAA Weekend

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Dennis Jankelow and Associates

DJ&A, a specialised aviation insurance broker, have for the past 10 years organised a raffle with the proceeds being donated to Reach for a Dream foundation. The 2005 winner, Annie Boon, has put her prize to full use and after attending the weeks training at Virginia with the Yak formation training camp saw her partake in the mass flypast of Yaks at Margate.

Airshow day

After the poor weather of the arrivals day we awoke to what appeared to be a better day. There were blue skies to the south west of the airfield but very heavy weather to the north. There was a light breeze blowing from the south so it did appear as if we were in for a great day. In the end though the weather continued to play up with heavy winds and overcast being the order of the day.

A slight delay occurred to accommodate the scheduled SA Airlink Jetstream that arrived early and this performed a low flypast for the crowd prior to landing to disembark its passengers.

Jeststream from SA Airlink

The show was started with a drive past of the emergency vehicle cavalcade and then 8 Yaks of the formation display team took off for a photographic air to air sortie prior to the mass formation flypast. The overall formation was led by Gerald Williams and all pilots had a very experienced safety pilot in the rear. A large number of these pilots were from the UK and had been former display pilots in their own rights.

The display team crews consisted of:

Yak 1 (Yak 52) ZU-HOG Gerald Williams (Chris Hearns )
Yak 2 (Yak 52) ZU-DGA Findlay Smith (Vaughn Greyfenburg)
Yak 3 (Yak 52) ZU-CWR Gianfranco Cicconi (Dave * RAF Tornado and Hawk pilot)
Yak 4 (Yak 52) ZU-TRS Charles Urban (Ryan Cockayne)
Yak 5 (Yak 52) ZU-RUS Roger Dear (Dan * )
Yak 6 (Yak 18) ZU-CFT Darryl Lush (Alistair * )
Yak 7 (Yak 52) ZU-WAN Annie Boon (Paul Dixon RAF Hunter, Phantom and Lightning pilot)
Yak 8 (Yak 52) ZU-DSI Chris Raysma (Johan Venter)

* Unknown

They were followed by the Chipmunk ZU-URC of The Great African Flying Machine Company piloted by Ried Wardler. This beautiful little De Havilland Canada trainer gave a good display and is a joy to watch in the air.

Chipmunk

The Yaks, having completed their photo sortie returned for their formation flypast and display. To see this large formation displaying is pretty impressive and the wind that was blowing surely did not ease the pilot’s task. The display then broke into two separate formations of a 3-ship and a 5-ship for some further displays. I for one hope that this display will be shown in more favourable weather conditions in the future.