David Platt Photography

David Platt Photography I am Photographer based on the NSW Central Coast, Australia.

⚡ The Jet Age Comes Alive ⚡Few aircraft capture the excitement of aviation's transition into the jet era quite like the ...
08/06/2026

⚡ The Jet Age Comes Alive ⚡

Few aircraft capture the excitement of aviation's transition into the jet era quite like the de Havilland T-55 Vampire. With its unmistakable twin-boom silhouette and distinctive Goblin turbojet soundtrack, VH-T55 was a standout performer at Wings Over Shellharbour. ✈️

Piloted by aviation veteran Al Clements, Australia's only airworthy Vampire demonstrated why this pioneering aircraft remains one of the most admired early jet designs ever built. First flown in the 1940s, the Vampire helped usher air forces around the world—including the RAAF—into the jet age, and today continues to inspire a new generation of aviation enthusiasts.

From graceful passes to high-speed displays, VH-T55 delivered a spectacular reminder that some legends never lose their magic.

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour
✈️ de Havilland T-55 Vampire VH-T55
👨‍✈️ Al Clements



Wings Over Shellharbour Paul Bennet Airshows

🌊✈️ Flying her own airshow — right on her own doorstep!There is something wonderfully unique about the Lockheed P-3C Ori...
05/06/2026

🌊✈️ Flying her own airshow — right on her own doorstep!

There is something wonderfully unique about the Lockheed P-3C Orion (VH-ORI) at Wings Over Shellharbour 2026. Every other aircraft at this airshow had to travel to be here. Not VH-ORI. She simply rolled out of the hangar, because she lives here. VH-ORI is part of the HARS Aviation Museum collection, permanently based at Shellharbour Regional Airport, Albion Park — and watching her thunder down her own runway and take to the sky over her own backyard is something very few aircraft at any airshow can claim.

VH-ORI carries RAAF serial A9-753. She joined the Royal Australian Air Force in May 1978 and spent decades as one of Australia's most capable maritime patrol aircraft — hunting submarines, conducting long-range surveillance, and supporting naval operations across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. She flew under the colours of No. 92 Wing at RAAF Base Edinburgh and saw service across South East Asia and the Middle East before her retirement.

What makes VH-ORI truly remarkable is that she is one of the very few flying Orions anywhere in the world. To have her airworthy, based right here in the Illawarra, and flying displays at the local airshow is an extraordinary achievement by the dedicated all-volunteer team at HARS — one of Australia's finest aviation preservation organisations.

Four Allison turboprops at full power. That unmistakable sound. Over the coast she once patrolled. Right where she belongs. 🇦🇺

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour 2026
✈️ Lockheed P-3C Orion | VH-ORI | A9-753 | HARS Aviation Museum
🏠 HARS Aviation Museum | Shellharbour Regional Airport, Albion Park NSW



HARS Aviation Museum - Albion Park

✈️🦈 The shark-mouthed Kittyhawk is back — and she has never looked better!Wings Over Shellharbour 2026 was treated to th...
04/06/2026

✈️🦈 The shark-mouthed Kittyhawk is back — and she has never looked better!

Wings Over Shellharbour 2026 was treated to the sight and sound of the iconic Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk (VH-KTY) in full cry, with the incomparable Paul Bennet at the controls. That Allison V-1710 engine, that sharkmouth grin!

VH-KTY carries a rich history. Built in Buffalo, New York in 1942, she was originally allocated to the RAF as Kittyhawk Mk.Ia ET433, before being diverted to Australia and serving with the United States Army Air Corps 68th Pursuit Squadron in Tonga. She carries nose art honouring the legendary RAAF ace Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes , painted as it appeared on his P-40 in the scorching skies over North Africa.

Today she is a centrepiece of the Pays Air Service Warbird collection at Scone, NSW, lovingly maintained by Vintage Fighter Restorations , and in the hands of Paul Bennet at Shellharbour, she was absolutely electric. Paul has flown everything from Wolf Pitts Pros to Corsairs to Mustangs, but watching him throw a Kittyhawk around the sky with that trademark precision is something very special. 🇦🇺

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour 2026
✈️ Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk | VH-KTY | Pays Air Service / Vintage Fighter Restorations, Scone NSW
🎖️ Pilot: Paul Bennet



Paul Bennet Airshows Wings Over Shellharbour Hunter Warbirds - Scone NSW Vintage Fighter Restorations

💀✈️ "Whistling Death" over Shellharbour — and she sounded every bit as menacing as her nickname suggests.Wings Over Shel...
03/06/2026

💀✈️ "Whistling Death" over Shellharbour — and she sounded every bit as menacing as her nickname suggests.

Wings Over Shellharbour 2026 was graced by one of the most historically significant warbirds flying anywhere in the world today. Paul Bennet took to the skies in the magnificent Vought F4U-1D Corsair (VH-NQW) — and she stopped the crowd dead in their tracks.

VH-NQW is not just a beautifully restored warbird. She is a genuine, irreplaceable piece of world history. Built in 1944, this aircraft is the only Vought-built F4U-1D Corsair still flying anywhere in the world. She flew from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid as part of the VF-10 "Grim Reapers" squadron during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 — the largest amphibious assault in the entire Pacific War — flying fighter-escort, ground-attack and combat air patrol missions over some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War.

In the hands of Paul Bennet — Australian Aerobatic Champion and one of the world's great display pilots — VH-NQW was simply breathtaking. A once-in-a-lifetime aircraft, flown by a world-class pilot. We are incredibly fortunate to have her flying in Australia. 🇦🇺

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour 2026
✈️ Vought F4U-1D Corsair | VH-NQW | Paul Bennet Airshows
🎖️ Pilot: Paul Bennet



Paul Bennet Airshows Wings Over Shellharbour

🌀✈️ That distinctive turquoise blur just ripped apart the sky over Shellharbour — and the crowd absolutely loved it!Glen...
02/06/2026

🌀✈️ That distinctive turquoise blur just ripped apart the sky over Shellharbour — and the crowd absolutely loved it!

Glenn Graham put on a jaw-dropping unlimited aerobatics display at Wings Over Shellharbour 2026, throwing the iconic turquoise Zivko Edge 540 (VH-PBU) around the sky with breathtaking precision and raw aggression. Rolls, snaps, tumbles, lomcevaks — this aircraft does things that defy logic, and in Glenn's hands it looked almost effortless.

The Edge 540 is no ordinary aerobatic aircraft. An Unlimited Class monoplane powered by a screaming 400hp Ly-Con engine, it is capable of a 420 degree per second roll rate and climbs at 3,700 feet per minute. In the Red Bull Air Race series it became the benchmark that all other race aircraft are measured against — and watching it perform at low level is one of the most visceral experiences in aviation.

Glenn Graham is the Operations Manager for Paul Bennet Airshows and one of Australia's most accomplished aerobatic pilots — and VH-PBU's instantly recognisable turquoise livery has become one of the most beloved sights on the Australian airshow circuit. If you haven't seen this display in person, put it on your bucket list. 🇦🇺

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour 2026
✈️ Zivko Edge 540 | VH-PBU | Paul Bennet Airshows
🎖️ Pilot: Glenn Graham

💀✈️ "The Flying Undertaker" came to Shellharbour — and she was absolutely spectacular!One of the undisputed highlights o...
31/05/2026

💀✈️ "The Flying Undertaker" came to Shellharbour — and she was absolutely spectacular!

One of the undisputed highlights of Wings Over Shellharbour 2026 was watching Cameron Rolph-Smith put the mighty North American P-51D Mustang "The Flying Undertaker" (VH-FST) through her paces over the NSW coastline. That Packard Merlin at full song is a sound you feel in your chest — and Cameron wrung every last bit of performance out of her.

VH-FST is a very special aircraft. Serial 45-11526, she is the only North American-built P-51 Mustang flying in Australia, painted to represent the personal aircraft of US Congressional Medal of Honour recipient Major William Shomo — one of the great fighter aces of the Pacific War. She carries his markings "The Flying Undertaker" with immense pride, a fitting tribute to an extraordinary warrior.

Normally based at Archerfield Airport, Brisbane with Fighter Pilot Adventure Flights — where she is available for the ultimate warbird joy flight experience — VH-FST made the journey south to Shellharbour and reminded everyone exactly why the Mustang is considered one of the greatest fighter aircraft ever built.

Cameron Rolph-Smith, already a standout performer at this year's show in the T-28 Trojan, proved again that he is one of Australia's finest warbird pilots. What a display. What an aircraft. 🇦🇺

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour 2026
✈️ North American P-51D Mustang | "The Flying Undertaker" | VH-FST | S/N 45-11526
🏠 Fighter Pilot Adventure Flights | Archerfield Airport, Brisbane QLD
🌐 fighterpilot.com.au
🎖️ Pilot: Cameron Rolph-Smith

Fighter Pilot Adventure Flights

🛩️ The ground-shaking sound of a radial — the T-28 Trojan delivered one of the most thrilling displays of Wings Over She...
28/05/2026

🛩️ The ground-shaking sound of a radial — the T-28 Trojan delivered one of the most thrilling displays of Wings Over Shellharbour 2026!

Cameron Rolph-Smith put Paul Bennet's North American T-28 Trojan (VH-T28) through an incredible aerobatic routine over Shellharbour Airport, thrilling the crowd with low-level high-speed passes, massive loops and rolling manoeuvres that had jaws dropping from one end of the flight line to the other.

The T-28 Trojan was designed in the early 1950s to replace the legendary T-6 Texan as the primary military trainer for the US Air Force and Navy. Powered by a thundering Wright radial engine, it went on to serve as a counter-insurgency aircraft in Vietnam — and in the air it moves with a ferocity that belies its trainer origins.

In the hands of Cameron Rolph-Smith, VH-T28 was an absolute force of nature. There's nothing quite like the bark of that big round engine at low level to get the pulse racing. A standout performance on a brilliant day of aviation. 🇦🇺

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour 2026
🛩️ North American T-28 Trojan | VH-T28 | Paul Bennet Airshows
🎖️ Pilot: Cameron Rolph-Smith

✈️ One of Australia's most iconic warbirds wowed the crowd at Wings Over Shellharbour 2026 — the legendary "Grey Nurse" ...
27/05/2026

✈️ One of Australia's most iconic warbirds wowed the crowd at Wings Over Shellharbour 2026 — the legendary "Grey Nurse" is back on the airshow circuit!

The Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII (VH-HET), affectionately known as the "Grey Nurse", made a stunning appearance at Shellharbour this weekend, put through her paces in spectacular style by Wing Commander Guy Bourke.

Normally at home at the Temora Aviation Museum in New South Wales, this magnificent machine carries Australian Army serial A58-602 and is painted as the personal mount of RAAF Wing Commander Bobby Gibbes of 80 Wing, 457 Squadron, based on Morotai in 1945. Her famous sharkmouth markings are instantly recognisable to any warbird fan.

Built in 1944 and powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin, the Grey Nurse is one of a very small number of airworthy Spitfires in Australia — and watching her soar over the NSW coastline is a reminder of just how extraordinary these aircraft truly are.

An absolute privilege to see her fly. 🇦🇺

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour 2026
✈️ Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII | VH-HET | "Grey Nurse" | Temora Aviation Museum
🎖️ Pilot: Wing Commander Guy Bourke



Temora Aviation Museum Royal Australian Air Force Wings Over Shellharbour

✈️ Australia's first two-seat Spitfire takes to the skies over Shellharbour — and what a moment it was.Wings Over Shellh...
25/05/2026

✈️ Australia's first two-seat Spitfire takes to the skies over Shellharbour — and what a moment it was.

Wings Over Shellharbour 2026 played host to something genuinely historic: the debut airshow appearance of Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX BS548 (VH-IBS), coded GW-B — Australia's first two-seat Spitfire and the only one in the entire Southern Hemisphere.

This aircraft is no mere restoration project. BS548 is a real WWII combat veteran. Built in 1942, it served with No. 340 (Free French) Squadron at Biggin Hill wearing the Cross of Lorraine beneath its cockpit, before later serving with No. 341 Squadron. It was shot down near Le Havre in April 1943 — and after more than 80 years, it's flying again.

The aircraft was previously registered G-CMOD in the UK during its first flight at Duxford in January 2026 , prior to Pays Aviation in Scone, NSW acquiring the aircraft, as a dual-control two-seater, VH-IBS is now the only Spitfire in Australia where you can actually fly in the back seat. Hearing that Rolls-Royce Merlin sing overhead was something very special. A landmark day for Australian aviation history. 🇦🇺

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour 2026
✈️ Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX | BS548 | VH-IBS | GW-B | Pays Aviation



Hunter Warbirds - Scone NSW Wings Over Shellharbour

🚁 A living legend takes to the skies over Shellharbour!It was a privilege to watch the iconic UH-1H Iroquois — affection...
24/05/2026

🚁 A living legend takes to the skies over Shellharbour!

It was a privilege to watch the iconic UH-1H Iroquois — affectionately known as the "Huey" — perform at Wings Over Shellharbour 2026 this weekend.

This beautiful example, registered A2-703 (VH-X95), represents one of the most important helicopters in Australian military history. The Huey served the Australian Army through Vietnam and beyond, and hearing that unmistakable rotor beat again was something truly special.

Watching A2-703 fly is a powerful reminder of the service and sacrifice of those who flew and maintained these aircraft in the field. An absolute highlight of the airshow.

📍 Wings Over Shellharbour 2026
🚁 UH-1H Iroquois | A2-703 | VH-X95 | Australian Army

Wings Over Shellharbour Paul Bennet Airshows HARS Aviation Museum - Albion Park

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