On June 15th, Elaine Lamb, her friend Jackie Lee, Johan Cilliers and I went to check out this year’s airshow in Hamilton.
Each year I try to make it out to the Hamilton Airshow which is now on it’s third year strong after a 10 year hiatus. In my humble opinion, it is the best airshow in Ontario. They feature more planes and attractions than any other airshow in my area. This year, I was really excited to see two planes for the first time, namely a rivet for rivet replica of a Messerschmitt Me 262 (worlds first jet fighter) and a Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It was also a rare occasion to see the world’s only flying De Havilland Mosquito. The usual fine assortment of planes was on hand and the Canadian Warplanes Heritage’s famous flying Avro Lancaster. There are only two airworthy Lancasters left in the world and I am glad one of them is right here in Canada.
Unfortunately, my desire to see the replica Me 262 and Fw 190 airborne was thwarted by the insane Toronto area traffic as well as other unexpected delays. I was hoping to get a reprieve by taking the 407 toll highway to save some precious time. On any other day this would have been a great idea. The blasted 407 was closed, yes closed, due to construction. In a more sane world, there would have been signs posted to indicate as such. Seems some idiot forgot to disclose this little tidbit of information and thousands of drivers were unexpectedly forced to turn around and drive through Oakville to resume their voyage on the congested QEW highway. When we arrived, the ME-262 and Fw-190 were nearly done flying and I had all of two minutes to capture some shots and see these legendary planes in flight.
We eventually settled down and enjoyed the rest of the show and then went out to dinner in Hamilton.
The lighting was not the best to take shots, but I did what I could despite having to shoot into the sun on hazy, overcast day.
