There are only two Antonov An-2 Colt aircraft flying in Australia, VH-CCE which spends most of its time in either Queensland or Victoria.
The second one VH-YNT is based in Darwin.
Getting back to VH-CCE, the yellow beast, was coming over to the Jamestown Air Spectacular to be held on October 18 2015.
Jamestown is a small town about a 2 1/2 hour drive north of Adelaide, South Australia.
While it was here there would be joy flights operated on the Saturday before the show on the Sunday.
Three flight times were available, 1:00 PM, 1:30 PM or 2:00 PM.
With a keen interest in Soviet and Russian aircraft, I had to go on this flight. A mate, Trevor was very keen to go as well.
Flights were A$90 each and lasted for 20 minutes.
So after booking our seats via the website,
http://www.an2.com.au, we were all set.
After driving up to the airstrip at Jamestown and not seeing the An-2 there, I started to have a sinking feeling that it wasn't going to show up.
Few other aircraft seen while waiting.
CJ6-VH-NNJ by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
CJ6-VH-NNJ-2 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
PittsS1-11X-VH-PVX by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
PittsS1-11X-VH-PVX-2 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
TBM3E-VH-MML by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
TBM3E-VH-MML-2 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
TBM3E-VH-MML-3 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
However it did arrive approx 1:00 PM, so we would be going but not at the scheduled time.
So after they got their stand etc set up, we paid our money and signed those waiver forms (some call them 'blood sheets') that basically say 'if it crashes don't blame us'.
An2-Checkin by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
Dad then thought bugger it, I've come all this way so I'll go too. Dad usually doesn't fly in the smaller aircraft as he usually feels a bit queasy.
It would be a little while before the flight, so we're allowed to go and have a closer look at the aircraft.
There were also two Nanchang CJ-6s being used for flights too.
It is a lot bigger than I thought. Although I did see an An-2 many years ago at Blackpool, U.K., I couldn't get that close to it, so didn't appreciate how big they are for a single engine aircraft.
The one I saw at Blackpool. Must admit this one looked better in a camo scheme than plain yellow.
AntonovAN2-LY-MHC by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
AntonovAN2-LY-MHC-2 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
Back to the yig yellow one.
An2-VH-CCE by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-2 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-3 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-4 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-5 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-6 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-8 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-9 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-10 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-11 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-12 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-13 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-14 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-15 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-16 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-17 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-18 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-19 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-20 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-21 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-22 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-23 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-24 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-25 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-26 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-27 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-28 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-29 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-30 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-31 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-32 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-33 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
Eventually boarded approx 2:40 PM. Brief explanation where the exits were etc.
There was no assigned seat, so first in gets the best seats. Nine seats in three rows with a single seat, aisle then two seats.
I was sat in the second row on the single seat side, Trevor was behind me and dad was in the window seat in the first row.
Was quite cramped, but for a flight of 20 minutes, wasn't a problem.
An2-VH-CCE-34 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-35 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-36 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-37 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
Once started, the engine wasn't as noisy as expected, but had the characteristic radial engine sound but what was very noticeable was the pneumatic system which operated the flaps, brakes etc. when the flaps or brakes were operated, there were loud hissing and whooshing noises. Being a tail dragger, the brakes were used a lot while taxiing.
An2-VH-CCE-38 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-39 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-40 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-41 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-42 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-43 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-44 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-45 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-46 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-47 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-48 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-49 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-50 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
So after a long taxi to the other end of the runway, the engine was run up to take off power, and after a short roll we were in the air.
An2-VH-CCE-51 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-52 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-53 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-54 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-55 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-56 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-57 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-58 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-59 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-60 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-61 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-62 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-63 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
An2-VH-CCE-64 by
Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr
To be continued.