September 25, 2016

Parked for the night.

We organised a function last night at the Tocumwal Historic Aerodrome. As the sun set against a dark sky small aircraft where taxing in and parked for the night.

Tocumwal has a rich aviation history.  It played a very important role in World War 2 when the town was used as a major base by the US during the war effort, building the largest aerodrome in the Southern Hemisphere at that time, McIntyre Field, with some 5,000 RAAF and 400 WAAF personnel based here. McIntyre Field was a training base for Liberator Bomber crews.

This weekend the Tocumwal Aerodrome welcomes a whole new generation of pilots. The Murray Border Flying Club is hosting “big kids” from the Peninsula Aero Club - Year 11 and 12 school students here learning moves, formations and attaining their first solo navigations.

Tocumwal also hosts the Australian Aerobatic Club National Aerobatic Championships in November. Our skies are filled with planes doing breathtaking maneuvers and dives.

If you don’t have the stomach for aerial acrobatics then perhaps gliding is more your style. Tocumwal is world renowned for its gliding conditions. Summer days are long which are ideal for gliding. Our local town has hosted the Australian Gliding Championships and the four time world gliding champion Ingo Renner calls Tocumwal home.

Our visit to the Aerodrome last night was totally unrelated to aviation and we are no plane buffs but it is wonderful to embrace the history of your local area and showcase what makes it unique.