Tiger Moth airplanes were made in Australia and England starting in 1931 for the wars. The particular one we flew in was made in 1940 and flew in WWII. Many of the remaining planes are used for crop dusting, a boring retirement compared to flying over the Gold Coast of Australia day in and day out. When we arrived at the air field, a group of Japanese people were waiting around for the planes to come back down. Anxiously, so were we. We finally heard the engines and looked up to see a small, red plane, falling out of the sky, twisting on the way down. The Japanese group held up their cameras and screamed. The plane stopped what looked like was falling, and pulled back up, gathered itself and continued with the acrobatics. The group continued to scream. After what had to be a gut wrenching ride, the plane landed and the passenger moved slowly. Come to find out, the group was a film crew for a Japanese comedy show. We couldn’t understand a word they said, but judging by the enthusiasm and over exaggeration, we assumed it was a comedy.
Finally, they cleared out and it was our turn. We flipped a coin, Greg went first. I took a few pictures and watched him take off. I sat and entertained myself for a bit and waited for his return. After what felt like only 20 minutes, I heard the engine again, looked up, hung up the phone and snapped more pictures. Greg lands with a huge smile on my face and it was my turn to put on the leather bomber jacket and goggles. My nerves were running high before the take off. All week I told Greg, “I can’t tell my mom, she’ll freak out, I’ll just wait until I land.” I didn’t have time to think before I was in the air to lock the keys on my phone.
After a short runway and few seconds, I was in the air. Wow, things were looking smaller and smaller down there on the ground. After about a minute, you can see the coast. Absolutely breath taking.
The plane takes you closer and closer to the high rises on the Gold Coast, going over the water and looking at the beach. Sometimes you can even see the dolphins in the water.
The plane takes a sharp turn and heads back. As I was cruising along with the wind in my face I snapped some awesome pictures of the beach, and myself, naturally, but mostly enjoyed the ride. The whole trip is about 20-30 minutes and is absolutely amazing. It’s not as adrenaline pumping as sky diving, but calm and scenic and absolutely remarkable.
After a smooth landing, Greg came up to take pictures of me in the plane. The first thing he said was “You didn’t tell me not to tell your mom.” The text message conversation between them is hilarious. “She’s up in a plane.” “Plane, what plane?!? Who is this?! Spill it!, I’m going to kill you!” After taking more photos, talking to the pilot, buying a teeshirt and thanking our hosts, I had to call mom and calm her down. She finally laughed as I promised to upload pictures asap. I think that was the quickest I’ve ever uploaded pictures to Facebook.
There is nothing in the world like flying in a WWII airplane over the beautiful coast of Australia and we loved every second of it.
