Meet the Warbirds
YAK 52
360HP Radial 9 Cylinder | Max Speed 285km/hr | Wingspan 9.3m | 420 Deg/Sec.
First designed in the 1970’s the Yak is still being manufactured and used by Air Forces all over the world. The Yak 52 was designed with one thing in mind – Aerobatics! Over 1800 of the type have been manufactured with the super-charged M14P engine giving a whopping 360 Hp and with it’s straight wing and span length ailerons can roll at over 180 degrees per second and snap roll even faster!
To the untrained eye the Yak and Chinese built Nanchang look very similar but given that the Yak was built for aerobatics it has a straight wing and much larger control services. It also uses more steel in it’s construction and has external as opposed to flush rivets.
Wirraway
600HP Radial 9 Cylinder | Max Speed 350km/hr | Wingspan 13.11m | 420 Deg/Sec
This WW2 Trainer has been credited as being the foundation of Australian aircraft manufacturing. It was the first aircraft manufactured by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) which was formed by a group of Australian industrial, manufacturing and shipping companies.
During the Second World War, both Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) deployed a number of Wirraways into combat roles, where they served in a makeshift light bomber/ground attack capacity, striking against the advancing forces of the Empire of Japan. The aircraft we fitted with a pair of forward-firing Vickers machine guns along with a single swivel-mounted machine gun you can see positioned at the rear of the cockpit.
Avenger
1900HP Radial 14 Cylinder | Max Speed 442km/hr | Wingspan 16.51m | 420 Deg/Sec
The Grumman Avenger was the heaviest single engine aircraft of WWII. It was initially developed for the United States Navy and was first shown to the public at the factory on the afternoon of 7 December 1941 – Pearl Harbour Day. This three seat torpedo bomber, it was designed with angular folding wings to maximise storage space on aircraft carriers and first saw service in 1942 at the Battle of Midway.
Powered by a 1950hp R-2600 14 cylinder radial engine, this aircraft has a unique sound like no other. The Avenger has a large bomb bay which could accommodate 1 torpedo, a 900kg bomb or up to four 227kg bombs. With its good radio facilities, the Avenger was often used as a command aircraft and was sometimes fitted with radar.