ChemSpec presents the House of Paint Durban AirShow

The weatherman must be getting old – for the second weekend in succession he did not properly close the door of the freezer. According to members of the Durban Wings Club it was the first weekend in 25 years the airshow did not see perfect weather. For photographers the greyscale Saturday was a nightmare with the sky a gunship grey, which made photography near impossible. The wind was an icy knife throughout the day but normally a high wind sees to a speedy departure of the prevailing cold front. And so it turned out to be as Sunday morning saw brilliant blue skies which lasted the entire day. However the wind remained from the South Pole and picked up quite dramatically to around 12 knots with gusts of up to 16 knots.

The airshows at Virginia Airfield over the past years are regarded as some of the best in South Africa, therefore a dedicated group of spectators ensure attendance figures remain fairly high over the entire weekend. This is similar to what is experienced at established airshows worldwide e.g. Farnborough in the UK. No matter what the weatherman dishes up, as long as the displays are of a high standard, the crowds will be there.

House of Paint

  Compared to Farnborough the airshows at Virginia is the second longest consecutive running with 2008 staging the 52th airshow at the airfield. Farnborough is the longest consecutive running airshow in the world.