Gold Coast Queensland:  Pacific Airshow

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The Pacific Airshow is held twice each year – at Queensland’s Gold Coast in August and at California’s Huntington Beach in September.  There are numerous airshows around the world each year – in the USA, in the United Kingdom, France, Canada and possibly even in the Maldives – although I’d guess that the later would probably feature a wide range of amphibious aircraft.

The Gold Coast show in August 2024 featured aircraft and aircrews from Australia, the United Kingdom and from the USA.  If you like fast jets and slow VTOL aircraft and antique World War II fighter jets and bi-wing stunt planes – then any of these air shows – other than the possible Maldivian event – will see your sparkplugs well lit.  Crowds lined the beach and many of the enthusiastic photographers were equipped with the longest telephoto lenses I have ever seen.

Aircraft

For me, the best aircraft in the world is the Airbus A380 where I can buy a 1^st Class seat and relax in comfort, have far too much caviar, lobster and Champagne and a good night’s sleep as I dribble my way to Frankfurt or Paris.  The photo below shows a large aeroplane about to top up my G&T glass.  

A couple of huge military aircraft dribbled their way across the Gold Coast skies recently – the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Canberra bomber and the US Navy P8A Poseidon and the re-fuelling giant Pegasus – but by far the more exciting planes were the smaller and faster and noisier aircraft.

The Gold Coast saw Spitfires and Mustangs, YAKs of various flavours and colours, aircraft with the mysterious names or numbers of MXS and EXTRA 300 (flown by Matt Hall and Emma McDonald), PC-21s flown by the RAAF Roulettes, L39 Fast Jets, an RAAF F18 Rhino Super Hornet (as compared to a pretty ordinary or garden-type Common Yellow Hornet) and the rather intimidating P35 Lightning II aircraft that shot flares – or skyrockets – out from its tail to deceive following enemy planes or to entertain the enthusiastic crowds on the beaches below.

My photographs show some of these aircraft – but I don’t really know which was a F18 or an L39, let alone a PC-21.  The spectators sitting on the beach OOH-ed and AAH-ed as the planes looped the loop and defied gravity and 

• … They go up, tiddlee up up … They go down, tiddlee down down … They enchant all the ladies and steal all the scenes, with their up tiddlee up and their down tiddle down ⁽¹⁾

I loved the aircraft that spiralled vertically up into the sky, paused, seemingly stalled, and just hung in the air.  I cannot imagine what the pilot was feeling – other than extreme G-forces and a feeling of:

• Hi ho – I’ve done it again!  And survived …

Some of the acrobatic aircraft wove tangled webs of smoke trails behind them as they dived and swooped and seemed to write messages in the sky and some seemed to turn upon every axis known to man or woman as they tossed this way and that and then another way or three before seeming to regain control and swooooping down again to say hello to the beach and the spectators still holding their collective breaths.

Some of the most fortunate spectators were those lounging on deck chairs, cocktails in hand, on the small flotilla of yachts and motor launches moored just off-shore from the flight path, or those perched, cocktails in hand, on the balconies of the many skyscraper apartment buildings lining the beach and overlooking the flight path of the performers.

Having seen the aerial ballets of the previous day, it was a great thrill to see some of them again – but this time from above.

After a delightful day on the beach – Ground Zero – we travelled to the Q1 tower – about 320 metres high and combining commercial premises, restaurants, and apartments.  It is one of Australia’s tallest residential buildings and was the world’s tallest residential building until 2011.  Now, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE, sneezes at this minion from its lofty height of 830 metres ….  The lift to Q1’s 77^th floor observation deck takes just thirty seconds and if you want to go just a little higher you can pay about AU$100 and go clambering over the exterior skeleton of the building. 

Dropping in for a cup of tea?

A few years ago, I enjoyed a tandem sky dive high above the cane fields of Far North Queensland.  My instructor and I jumped out of a perfectly good aircraft and tumbled for several hundred metres before he pulled the cord to release the parachute.

• Nope – parachute did not open

Oh well – here we go – I thought – but my instructor was very professional and told me to resume “the banana position” as he tugged another rope, releasing the failed parachute, and then releasing the emergency ‘chute.  After we landed, I asked him if he did this stunt for all the final dives of the day:

• Nope – that happens about once in a thousand jumps … and tomorrow I will have to trudge through endless sugar cane fields to try to find the first parachute.
• Oh … Lucky me … then … I guess … ⁽²⁾

At the Gold Coast air show we had US Navy Leaping Frog skydivers wending their way to the beach, circling the tall apartment buildings and finally landing on the spot marked “X” on the beach amid the thousands of spectators.

The US skydivers opened the show on the day we attended and swooped and plunged and arrived just as the USA Star Spangled Banner anthem concluded – sung by someone who could possibly have been better employed elsewhere …

Later in the day I strolled along the beach and found RAF Flight Lieutenant Alice Rogers and another RAF officer preparing to release a hot-air balloon to assess wind direction and speed, prior to the superb RAF Falcons’ sky diving team’s assault on the Gold Coast.

• My skydiving expertise consisted of plummeting to the earth – barely under control.  

The Falcons eight-man team swooped, circled, described love letters and hearts in the air as they descended in close formation with rosy smoke plumes etching the skies behind them.  I spotted several smoke containers on the beach after they landed:  RED B801 PWD 05-21 things they had strapped to their ankles and while the technical instructions were probably far more complex, I imagine they were more or less:

• Do not pull safety pin until outside the aeroplane
• Do not point smoke generators at small children
• Warning:  smoking can damage your health

I can understand – I think – how aeroplanes can swoop and swirl, but how these men were able to navigate through three dimensions as they fell towards the beach was quite simply amazing.  A large “X” marked the spot and clouds of bright yellow smoke had been released to show the athletes where to go and where the wind was coming from.  I pay tribute to the Brits as they honoured the host country:  the last man to land was an Australian Defence Force parachutist from the Red Berets bringing with him a huge Australian flag.

Kids

I’d thought that noisy aircraft speeding at zero metres above the sea, and blokes jumping out of tiny planes, and helicopters showing how they can drop hundreds of litres of water on bushfires would entertain the many kids on the beach at the Gold Coast Air show.

• Nope

Sandcastles and paddling in the low ripples of the surf and chasing seagulls were much more entertaining for some of the children I spotted.  Two kids near us spent a long time crafting a sand aeroplane – complete with twin outboard jet engines, a towering tail and a cleverly crafted cockpit. Then the tide came in and the superb beach sculpture became a blob or two of misshapen sand and a few puddles.  The kids loved it!

Elsewhere I spotted kids tossing tiny red gliders into the wind and racing to catch them before they landed back at the feet of their parents, and at the 102.9 FM Radio Red Tomato stall children were trying to throw small planes through targets to gain points to trade for prizes at the nearby redemption stall.

One attraction that was very popular with the kids was the Nitro Circus BMX demonstration.  Rders looped the loop and – they, too – defied the ground.  With BMX an event in this year’s Paris Olympic Games, it was good to see some skilled ground performers taking to the air at the airshow.

Support Staff

No major event exists without an army of supporters.

Volunteers from the local high schools acted as travelling garbage collectors along the beach, and medics, firemen, surf life savers and nurses and baristas and policemen and hamburger flippers and hand-bag inspectors all made a contribution to this year’s show.  The food offered was not particularly Michelin starred but did offer spectators beers ($10.00 a can), Red Bulls with vodka ($16.00 per can), burgers, tacos and all the usual comfort and fast foods.  Good coffee, on the other hand, was surprisingly difficult to find.

Others – professionals – who were there to support the armed forces included staff from the RAAF’s Expeditionary Health Squadron – the Australian Air Force’s equivalent to the army’s Royal Australian Medical Corps.  Elisabeth Fraser and Yvonne “Tintin” Dennett ⁽³⁾ explained how the squadron can be deployed at any battle site or other emergency site and that they were a group of doctors, nurses and specialists able to fly into the most challenging areas.

One night we went to a local Irish pub for dinner and to listen to the surprisingly good little Irish band performing there.  We almost had to call for the Expeditionary Health Squadron, however, as a very spirited game of pub pool took over the restaurant with billiard cues and snooker balls flying through the air.  Ho hum – just another night in an Irish boozer, perhaps!  Pass the Guinness!

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And so …

I don’t think I will hurry back to next year’s airshow or to any other airshow – except perhaps for the one in the Maldives – but I really enjoyed the thrills and skills and fun of the couple of days on the Gold Coast watching those magnificent men – and women – in their flying machines.

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Notes

1. Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Plymouth Youth Music Service www.plymouthmeh.com
2. Many years ago I taught at a school in central Queensland, and directed several school theatrical productions.  One of the boys I worked with, a talented and enthusiastic young actor, later adopted the sport of skydiving.  I was heavily saddened when I heard, years later, that he had died following an unsuccessful skydive.  I loved being a teacher – but I hate learning of the early deaths of any of my former students.
3. Tintin Dennett – I wonder how she got her nickname …?

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Journey August 2024

Text and photographs © Christopher Hall August 2024

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In my blogs I try to present a snapshot of the places I have discovered during a brief visit.   I am not trying to present a detailed picture of the whole city or the whole region or the whole country.

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If a man ascended into heaven and gazed upon the whole workings of the universe and the beauty of the stars, the marvellous sight would give him no joy if he had to keep it to himself. And yet, if only there had been someone to describe the spectacle to, it would have filled him with delight.

• Attributed to Marcus Tullius Cicero – On Friendship

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