IPMS South Africa - Wesbank Rand Airshow 2007

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Wesbank Rand Airshow 2007

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Henley Air

Henley Air is not only a successful aviation company based at Rand but are known for a credible helicopter display during the annual Rand Airshow.

R44 - Phillip Merrick

This year proved no different and Andre Coetzee in a Eurocopter EC135 and Phillip Merrick in a rare Augusta A109 Power performed a remarkable twin helicopter display. Both types are not normally seen at an airshow. One would imagine it would be difficult to improve on this but Phillip Merrick later in the afternoon used a Robinson R44 in a mind boggling routine of sheer helicopter display brilliance.

Other airshow regulars also attended and included Marc Beckley in the Stearman with his familiar tail slide manoeuvre, Elton Bondi in the Soviet Jeans Pitts, Stan Oliver in the Yak 55, Ian Billing in his newly acquired Extra 300, both the Control Instruments Pits Specials & two Zlin 50s and an Extra 300, Flippie Vermeulen in the DC3, Rainer Friebose in the Flamingo and Pierre Gouws in the L39 Zu-Tee amongst others. Jeff Earle followed the debut of the Piper Twin Comanche at Margate EAA weekend with a polished display which included a barrel roll towards the end of the display.

Nigel Hobkins - Extra 300 Internet Solutions

Warren Haslam

Not only is Larry Beamish the newly elected chairman of ASSA (Airshow South Africa) but also very active as a display pilot. With Nigel Hobkins in the newly applied livery of Internet Solutions they performed a tight routine in two Extra 300s. The Extra 300 from Ian Billing was used by Larry Beamish for this routine. Remarkably, Nigel Hopkins’s Extra was seen a mere 7 days ago in an entirely different colour scheme at the Margate EAA weekend. Larry later performed with Pierre Gouws in the L39 Skyraider jets duo routine. As part of the final flypast, Larry Beamish, positioned ZU-RUN close to the photographers for some incredible photo opportunities. Final display for the day was the Flying Lions Harvard display team.

ZU-RUN Larry Beamish position for the photographers

Best weather conditions in years and a large number of display routines by a variety of aircraft and rotary aircraft with full SAAF participation once again saw the new Rand airshow live up to its reputation. Representatives from Canon Professional camera division in SA once again attended. Media captain for the day was Shaun Melass.

Top photos: C. Hugo, F. Hugo & A. Dyason. Photo manipulation: A. Dyason.

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