Last weekend saw the close-knit community at Luskintyre, a small grass airfield west of Newcastle NSW mark the Winter Solstice with a good, old-fashioned bonfire night.Mottys-Luskintyre-Bonfire-Night-2017-6736-ASO

After a few weeks of dodgy weather, we were finally treated to a spectacular, clear winter’s afternoon which was all the encouragement many needed to commit aviation, with a steady stream of aircraft taking advantage of the beautiful weather throughout the afternoon.Mottys-Luskintyre-Bonfire-Night-2017-Yak-52-VH-VMI-0295-ASO

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Naturally, Tigermoths were well represented.Mottys-Luskintyre-Bonfire-Night-2017-Tigermoth-VH-BGR-0102-ASO

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Paul Bennet and the team stopped by with their Wolf Pitts, Rebel 300 and Wirraway and treated us to some brilliant flying and the beautiful afternoon provided some great light.Mottys-Luskintyre-Bonfire-Night-2017-PBA-Formation-0460-ASO

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Balloons Aloft also brought along a couple of their craft to provide rides for kids (both young and old) as the light faded and temperatures dropped. This also made for quite a spectacular light show if, like me, you haven’t had the chance to see a balloon flown at night.Mottys-Luskintyre-Bonfire-Night-2017-Balloons-Aloft-5863-ASO

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And, after my first real attempts at night photography at Illawarra recently (and thanks to the lessons from Mark Jessop and Leigh Atkinson) I took the chance to try some night shots as well.Mottys-Luskintyre-Bonfire-Night-2017-6133-ASO

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Thanks to everyone involved for another great afternoon and evening at this wonderful little rural airfield.

Motty.

Click HERE to see the full gallery of images.