‘Straight Outta Omaka’ to Warbirds Over Wanaka

History takes time. Few know that better than the three pilots and two-dozen aviation aficionados who patiently waited for a momentous flight out of Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre last Wednesday.

Three WWII-era fighter planes headed to the Warbirds Over Wanaka Airshow. Unique here, Russians used these Yak aircraft, and not only does the total represent the most of them in one place, their flying in formation may well be unprecedented in the Southern Hemisphere.

"You’ve heard of Straight Outta Compton?” flight leader Graeme Frew posed, referring to the film. “This is Straight Outta Omaka!”

Chucking, he added: “It’s great to create a world first with good friends.” Those friends are Ryan Southam and Mark O’Sullivan. The pilots – Graeme in Full Force, Ryan Southam in Liberté, Mark in Steadfast – set a flight path to Wanaka via Ashburton, where they’d stop to refuel. They planned to take off around 11am; they wound up needing another hour before taxiing to the runway.

Like their flight leader, the pilots on his flanks expressed excitement about making history and performing for 60,000 spectators at the international airshow over Easter Weekend.

“I very much enjoy [flying the Yak] all the time,” Ryan explained, “but there is that want to show off the airplane to the public.”

Mark’s Yak, which boasts world records for speed and wing-mounted accessories for smoke trails, has “gone from racing to a display aircraft,” he noted. “It’s got the sound, the speed, the smoke — all the things any airshow patron should love.”