By XAVIER SMERDON
POINT Cook was the place to be over the weekend with Air Force aficionados from all over Australia and the world flocking to the RAAF base to soak in a bit of history.
The weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of military aviation in Australia when a Bristol Box Kite plane was flown in Point Cook.
Tickets were only supplied in limited numbers but 50,000 people still flocked to the landmark event.
The event was planned to show how much military aviation had changed over the last century and ground and air displays were organised to reflect this.
Everything from the wooden Bristol Box Kite to unmanned drones that have not yet been deployed were on display during the weekend.
Air Commodore Phil Byrne said it showed that Point Cook was the spiritual home of Australia’s Air Force and confirmed that the air base would remain a significant landmark into the future.
While the oldest planes that made up the early years of the Air Force were a huge drawcard, the most impressive displays were those performed by the ear-busting Super Hornets.
The Bristol Box Kite that was also on display was a replica of the first military aircraft flown in Australia at Point Cook in 1914.
No original versions of the plane have survived and the replica was built for the making of the film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines.
