Parys Fly-Inn 14 April 2012
By Lefty Wright
I haven't been to a fly-in for as long as I can remember and when I was invited to Parys by a friend I ruefully had to decline as my passport had expired some months ago. “Parys in the Free Sate” he said. “An airfield at Parys in the Free State?” I thought he was joking but decided to tag along and so on Saturday morning we departed by road and upon arrival I was quite amazed by the number of visitors already there with aircraft of all sorts arriving at regular intervals and the aroma of breakfast and Boerie Rolls filling the air.
Parked in neat rows were the visiting aircraft that to my joy included Harvard's, Pitts Specials, Navions and others that I did not even knew existed, more than forty if I counted correctly. I thought that we would have breakfast and then depart but I was wrong. The day's proceedings were opened by Skydivers followed by a display by the Eqstra Flying Lions, the Gabriel Pitts Specials as well as an aerobatic display by what I was told is an Extra 300 flown by a gentleman called Brad Bennetts. I never knew that an aircraft could be flown like that and I also did not know that Aviation minded people were such a friendly and hospitable bunch eager to share their passion with me, a stranger and someone who's knowledge of aircraft are at best rather paltry.
Fortunately, being a rather keen but completely incompetent photographer I had my camera with me to record some of the action which will hopefully tide me over until some kind sole again invite me to another aviation event.
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