Over the weekend of 26th and 27th of May 2018 the Red Thunder Airshow 2018 was staged at Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield, around 1.5 hours drive west of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The airshow was organised to coincide with the end of the Red Thunder TFC (Tactical Flying Clinic), a separate week-long event where owners of ex-Russian and Chinese aircraft get together to learn formation and tactical flying from experienced pilots.
In this article I focus on the various piston-engined fighter aircraft that appeared over the airshow weekend. This includes the following aircraft types:
I also photographed several of the aircraft in this article at sunrise, those images are displayed in the separate article Red Thunder Airshow 2018 – Sunrise and Dusk Aircraft Shoots.
North American P-51D Mustang
Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVI
Yakovlev Yak-9UM
Yakovlev Yak-3UPW
Fokker DR.I
The Australian Vintage Aviation Society (TAVAS) displayed their immaculate Fokker DR.1 Triplane replica at the show. A tribute to the Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen), their example was built in the USA from Sands and Redfern plans and in the “pillar box red” livery of the Red Baron. TAVAS claim it is very accurate apart from disc brakes, a tailwheel instead of skid and a modern Lycoming R-670 radial engine. The Lycoming is a common powerplant option for DR.1 replicas, with the original Oberursel rotary engines being very hard to find these days.
The display showed how manoeuvrable the DR.1 is, with fast climb and turn rates. I was very happy to get a head-on shot of the DR.1 diving toward camera, it looks like the Baron is on a strafing run and I’m in his sights!
Bristol F.2B
Fokker DR.I and Bristol F.2B - Red Baron Display
Just as they did at the TAVAS Great War Flying Display held earlier the same month, the TAVAS team performed a mock dogfight between the Fokker DR.1 and their Bristol F.2B to commemorate the downing of the Red Baron in 1918.
Other Information
Location
Watts Bridge Memorial Airfield is located near the town of Toogoolawah, around 125Km (1.5 hours) by road North-West of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. For more information about the airfield and its operation, visit the airfield’s website.
Image Galleries
If you’d like to view more of images on this topic, below are some links to my photography gallery website.
