Show business
Screaming jet engines, thunderous explosions and rumbling turboprops – a worldwide contingent of aviation’s top performers converged on Avalon.

PTE John Wellfare was there to capture the action.

LACW Kimberlee Wilson, from No. 6 Squadron, mans the F-111 static display at the Australian International Air Show.

Photo by PTE John Wellfare

FLTLT Craig Whiting, from No. 6 Squadron, warms the Avalon sky with a dump and burn.

Photo by WOFF Ray Bennell.

FLTLT Bradley Close shows off the Caribou’s tactical landing capability to spectators.

Photo by SGT Michelle Lucraft.

PLTOFF Damien Reardon shows air show visitor Jacob Merry through a 2FTS PC-9.

Photo by PTE John Wellfare.

FLTLT Craig Browne talks to Browne visitors at the AP-3C stand.

Photo by PTE John Wellfare

THERE are some things you will see at an air show that don’t tend to happen anywhere else.

A bustling crowd of thousands becomes suddenly motionless as a jet roars overhead and every single person as far as the eye can see looks skyward in unison.

A pilot is treated like a superstar on the red carpet as he walks from his aircraft’s static display to a drink stand ten metres away.

A girl no more than seven years old asks for autographs from every uniformed person who passes her family’s picnic blanket.

The Air Force’s most important public event for the year, the Australian International Air Show held at Avalon in Victoria, went off without a hitch and gave the ADF an opportunity to show the public both its latest technologies and its most reliable stalwarts.

With the catchline “the shape of things to come”, the air show featured almost every aircraft imaginable, from some of the earliest WWI trainers to a detailed full-scale replica of Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter, which is still in the development phase.

The Air Force contribution included vintage warplanes from the RAAF Museum, Caribous and Hercules transport aircraft, AP-3Cs, F-111s and F/A-18s, and even PC-9 trainers.

The Roulettes put on a topquality aerial display of course, and the freshly painted 20th anniversary Hornet, piloted by Squadron Leader Paul Simmons, was a hot favourite with the crowds.

The thousands of spectators to visit the biennial event braved scorchingly hot weather and anyone who showed up more than an hour after opening time had to walk several kilometres from the far reaches of the expansive car park to the front gate.

They were rewarded with an all-day program of flying displays that meant the skies were never clear for more than a few minutes at a time and enough static displays littered the grounds of Avalon Airfield to keep an aviation enthusiast busy for two days.

The trade pavilion featured a significant slice of the world’s aviation industry, from the heavyweights such as Boeing and Northrop Grumman, both of which posted enormous stands with detailed models, video screens and souvenirs, down to the smallest aviation magazine or minor parts manufacturer with a corner booth.

The Department of Defence stand was a popular attraction.

DSTO’s 20cm-tall hologram, which presented information on the organisation’s role within Defence while “interacting” with scale props built into the display, had young children baffled and amazed.

While the pavilion provided a meeting place for some of the industry’s key players during the air show’s trade days, once the paying public came through the gates, it became a great place to take shelter from the unrelenting heat.

Many of the stall managers had predicted this trend and offered free bottles of water and hand-held fans featuring the company logo.

But the trade pavilion wasn’t simply discarded as a resting place, and many aviation industry stakeholders made use of the public days to improve their image and attract potential recruits.

It’s possible many spectators didn’t leave the fringes of the runway as everything airborne, from parachutists and paragliders to the world’s fastest fighters and largest cargo carriers, soared overhead.

Those who did leave the flightline were rewarded with the chance to meet the people who fly and maintain some of the military’s top aircraft, as well as the dedicated enthusiasts who meticulously restore and pilot the finest pieces of aviation heritage.

They might come from all age groups and backgrounds, but it’s a certain crowd who visit air shows.

They’re the type of people who ignore everything around them and look skyward when a jet roars overhead, and they treat pilots like pop idols.

But even the most grounded, heights-fearing pessimist would have felt the irresistible urge to look to the heavens, take in the raw power and speed of the thunderous F-111, or the playful serenity of the aerobatics glider and, if only for a moment, dream of escaping the confines of the land and experiencing the limitless freedom of flight.

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