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Australian International Airshow 2001
The bi-annual Australian International Airshow is held at Avalon airfield, near Geelong, Victoria. It is
Australia's equivalent of the Farnborough airshow held in the UK. The 2001 event celebrated Australias
100 years of federation and the RAAF's 80th birthday - a double celebration! When I found out that it was on in 2001
and that I would be in the area I decided to sign up as a volunteer. As a backpacker, the offer of free
accommodation and free food was just too much!
As it turned out, I was working on the campsite - not quite as close to the planes as I was hoping, but I guess
they were unlikely to let me drive them around, or anything!! At least we got good views of the flying displays
from the campsite and it was a short drive to get to the show itself. The campsite team consisted of Bruce, Di,
David, Cameron, Graham, Neil and Muriel. Most of us were rookies except for the last 3 who had been at this game
for a few years now!
The work mainly consisted out the sites for the tents and caravans, putting up fenceposts and signs and generally
preparing the campsite for people arriving. Due to the heat, we didn't work much from about midday onwards on most
days, but we still had plenty of time to get everything done. Afternoons were then free for wandering around the
trade show and seeing goodies everyone was trying to sell. Needless to say, there weren't too many things that
were in my price range!! I did manage to score a flight in a Dornier regional jet airliner, courtesy of Richard
Siudak. I felt like a bit of a cheat sitting there with absolutely no intention of buying one of them but, hey! I
guess its all good publicity! Especially when I say how impressive the steep take off from Moorabin airport was!
You don't get that on your average jumbo jet flight!
The airshow relies on a huge number of volunteers to make it work, and a good number of them stay on the
campsite so it was a good place to be - especially when the bar started operation later in the week! There was
even the odd night out in nearby Geelong just for a change of scenery!
Below:One of the RAAF's Hornets with special centennial markings.
As the public days approached we were busier helping people pitch their tents and allocating them spaces etc.
Unfortunately, some of these people had been in traffic queues for some time and were not in the best of moods,
but on the whole everyone was pretty happy. There were a few people rather unhappy at paying \$25 per night per
person for a small, dusty patch of land, mind you.
Once people started leaving on the Saturday and Sunday we started packing everything up again. All that hard work
putting stakes in the ground etc had to be undone and everything put away. As with everything else in life, tidying
up is by far the worst part, although there were enough of us to make it a relatively quick job.
As for the show itself, the highlight for me was seeing the F-111 do its little Dump and Burn trick at night.
This is where they eject fuel from the back of the plane and then put the engines into afterburner and light the
fuel that has been dumped. This leaves a spectacular fiery trail behind the aircraft. Only the RAAF perform
this stunt - when the Americans were operating F-111s they considered it too dangerous to do!! It is certainly
very spectacular at night - easily the highlight of the show. The American Air Force made a sizeable effort to
help the RAAF celebrate its 80th birthday. They sent a sizeable contingent of fighters from bases in Japan and even
went to the lengths of flying a B-1 down from Brisbane on both public days to perform 3 flypasts and then go back
again!
All in all it was a great week, working outside in the beautiful weather and generally having a pretty relaxing time
and enjoying myself. Met some great people as well - another few email addresses to add to my collection!
If you're ever in the area and need something to do for a week, I can highly recommend volunteering at the airshow -
you don't even have to be as mad on planes as me! It helps to like them, mind you... :-)
Below:One of the B-1Bs that the USAF brought to Avalon. They were on exercise in Queensland at the time,
their home base being in Kansas.
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