Warbird Adventure Rides Ltd

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

As some of our followers will know Warbird Adventure Rides Ltd. is not renewing its PT115 Adventure Aviation certificate and at the end of last month ceased operations.

With the sale of the P-40 earlier this year and with the sale listings of the Spitfire and Mustang we felt the time was right after 10 years of providing adventure flights to the public to hang up our flying overalls. At the end of the day we are just guardians of these aircraft for a period of time.

The P-40 will be making its way to Oregon to its new owners - the Soaring by the Sea Foundation - who are committed to keeping CAG flying in its current RAAF colours and honouring its ANZAC history.

Thank you to all who chose to fly with us over the last 10 years. We are proud that we were able to give the public the opportunity to fly in these 3 iconic aircraft which historically represent so much. It has been a huge privilege.

The WARL team

David's father went for a fly with us last month in the Spitfire and sent through the following.

"We claimed that we heading out to see the museum at Ardmore.
Turned up and I was greeted by Gary in the car park. He mentioned the spitfire was close to taxiing down, so we all walked around to the flight line.

Dad was still oblivious at that point, and I think he thought Gary was a mate of mine so just kind of went along with it. We all chatted about warbirds for a bit, and then she came around corner.

Everyone was super excited and started filming, including the old man.

Spitty came down, turned around and shut down.
I said to dad, "you figured out what's going on yet?" and after some confusion and tears I confirmed he'd be going for a flight today.

Afterwards he confessed he still didn't really believe it was going to happen, as it's such a bold gift to receive. An opportunity only a few people get. Only after signing forms and putting on the flying overalls did the reality sink in.

So we did the flight briefing with Liz, which was good fun. Then we went out and did the pre flight with Frank, who was also great and took the time to explain the spitfire in detail. Then dad got in.

He loved it. Every minute. Said it felt unbelievably powerful and agile, and could see why we won the war. He was just doing his best to take in the moment, the noise and feelings. Had to remember to communicate with Liz to show that he was still alive. Felt a little queezy after bombing the dam, but it didn't detract from the amazing experience.

While he was up, Gary took us for a personal tour through the early birds hangar, and we got to see the takeoff and landing, plus get some cool fly over shots. What a sound!

After she landed dad was over the moon, could not smile any harder. He was proud that he didn't have to use the sick bag haha. A few more laughs, tears and thank yous were had, then Gary took us on a personal tour through both the hangars again, which was great, he has so much knowledge on every frame and a real fun guy to share the tour with.

Since then dad's told everyone he knows about the experience, won't bloody shut up.

Once again can not thank yourself and the rest of the team enough for making this dream come true, for me and my old man.
All he ever does is help and give to everyone else, including myself. He's a real salt of the earth kind of guy and a great role model for me.

It's so nice to be able to give back for once."

We love stories like this. 🥰

Anzac Day Flyovers for Auckland region.