AFTER a year and a half of planning, organisers have hailed the Nhill Air Show an enormous success.
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Conservative estimates put the number of visitors at about the 3500 mark with upwards of 130 planes touching down for the event.
Organiser Andrew Kube said more than 100 volunteers had given freely of their time to make the air show a success.
“We had a volunteer committee of 13 and then plenty more helping on Saturday,” he said.
“We had an induction day on the Sunday before the air show where 80 people turned up.
“The response from the Nhill community was fantastic.”
Aircraft began to arrive at the aerodrome on Friday night with volunteers working overtime to ensure everything was ready.
“The pilots were really happy with how our makeshift control tower functioned,” Mr Kube said.
“There were no reported incidents and everything went really smoothly from a technical aspect, in fact the whole day ran smoothly.”
Mr Kube said said feedback from both visitors and participants was almost universally positive.
“I received an email from the Wartime Living History Group, they had the military vehicle display, and said it was a great day,” he said.
“The Pacific Belles were a real hit. They did three half-hour sets but in between mingled with the crowd and happily posed for photos.
“And seeing the ladies who donated the dresses for the fashion show, the smiles on their faces made it all worthwhile.”
The show was concluded with a display from the RAAF Roulettes.
“While they didn’t land at Nhill, the pilots actually drove up before the display to sign autographs and pose for photos,” Mr Kube said.
Mr Kube said the benefits of the day had been felt right through the Nhill community.
“The money raised from the day will go towards the Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre and in particular, the restoration of the Avro Anson aircraft at the museum,” Mr Kube said.
“Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre chairman Rob Lynch was ecstatic with how the day went.
“In fact the whole town was buzzing. It was great to have that many people coming through Nhill.
“The place was booked out.”
Mr Kube said future air shows were a possibility, but the likelihood of a regular event was small.
“It’s a huge amount of work that goes into a day like Saturday, and we’re all volunteers,” he said.
“I wouldn’t rule out future air shows for Nhill, but they’re not likely to be a yearly thing.”