TheNew Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum was anaerospace museum located atWānaka Airport in New Zealand'sSouth Island. It closed in March 2011 (14 years ago) (2011-03) and was replaced in December 2011 by theWarbirds & Wheels museum of military aircraft as well as classic and vintage automobiles and motorcycles.[1]
The museum was founded by SirTim Wallis and housed in a new building at the Wānaka Airport. It was opened in 1993 (32 years ago) (1993) by retired Group Captain Colin Gray.[2] Its first curator was Ian Brodie. In 1996 museum became one of the first aerospace museums on the internet. The museum includes the Alpine Fighter Collection, dedicated to New Zealand's fighters duringWorld War II.[3] The museum was funded, in part, by grants from theCommunity Trust of Otago.[4]
The Alpine Fighter Collection is a collection of vintage aircraft based at the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum atWānaka established byhelicopter anddeer entrepreneur SirTim Wallis.[5]
The collection was started in 1984 with the purchase of aNorth American P-51 Mustang from John Dilley of the US.[6] Painted inRNZAF colours, it attracted much media attention as the first flying Second World War fighter seen inNew Zealand for some years and played a major part in the 1980s and 1990s expansion of theWarbird movement in New Zealand.[citation needed]
The collection undertook a pioneering effort in recovering and restoring Warbirds from the post-glasnostCommonwealth of Independent States. It arranged and funded the first restorations to flying condition ofPolikarpov I-16s (six restored) andPolikarpov I-153s (three restored). It also restored the firstNakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa to fly since the 1940s.[7][8][9][10]
In 1988, the collection's core members organized the firstWarbirds over Wanaka airshow to showcase the collection - it attracted 14,000 people. The collection continues to provides the basis of the biannual Warbirds over Wanaka Airshow which attracted over 100,000 visitors in 2006.[11][12]
The collection was reduced by sales in the later years. The sole airworthy component is aHawker Hurricane Mk IIA, with ade Havilland Vampire FB5 andRoyal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a reproduction on static display.[13]
Amongst the aircraft that were eventually transferred to the new Warbirds & Wheels museum were the Hawker Hurricane and the replica S.E.5a.
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