Another great show at Warbirds Over Wanaka at Wanaka airport in New Zealand, which is located in one of the most spectacular airshow locations in the world, took place over the traditional Easter weekend of April 3–5, 2026. Despite some cold and cloudy weather, the show was a great success, with three days of excellent flying by a good variety of aircraft, as well as static displays. With the sale of several favorites overseas (two P-51Ds, two P-40s, and the Avro Anson having been sold in recent years), the Catalina and DC-3 grounded awaiting sale, the Corsair awaiting an overhauled engine, and no star appearance by a newly completed Mosquito restoration like last time, the WWII combat aircraft turnout was small. Although bolstered by Spitfire PR.XI PL983, shipped from ARCo in England, it came down to the Biggin Hill Historic Aircraft collection’s Spitfire IX, TBM Avenger, and P-51D Mustang, plus the three Yaks. However, even with small numbers, there were some great displays, with all these warbirds displaying individually and the two Spitfires doing some great passes together, while the three Biggin Hill aircraft flew together. We were lucky to see the three Yaks fly together on Thursday too. Modern military aircraft, including two USAF F-22s that were due to operate from Christchurch, were withdrawn just one week before the show due to the US attacks on Iran and resulting concerns about fuel shortages. While this was disappointing to some, especially locals who don’t see many fast jets, it was only a small part of the show and not missed by many.
The Biggin Hill Historic Aircraft collection, based at RNZAF Base Ohakea, was the brainchild of Brendan Deere to commemorate his uncle, Al Deere, one of New Zealand’s most famous fighter pilots, who commanded the Biggin Hill Wing in 1943. It started with the Spitfire IX PV270, a former Burmese Air Force gate guard that was fully restored and painted as one of the aircraft Al Deere would have flown. What started with one aircraft has grown into the current fleet, firstly with the addition of Grumman TBF Avenger Bu.91110 painted as NZ2518, and then the full restoration of P-51D Mustang NZ2423, which had been preserved and stored for many years by John Smith. These are operated separately and also as part of the RNZAF Heritage Flight, performing displays with current in-service aircraft. They also have some static aircraft in the collection.
(Image credit: Nigel Hitchman)
The three Yak fighters all come from different owners at Omaka and are all maintained by JEM Aviation there. Yak-3U Steadfast ZK-YOV was newly built in Romania in the early 2000s and started out as a Reno racer before spending time in Australia and coming to New Zealand in 2019. Yak-3 ZK-VVS Full Noise was built in Russia in 1993, initially going to the US before coming to New Zealand in 2004. After a full overhaul, it has been operated by Graham Frew ever since, including two trips to the Reno Air Races and many rides for paying customers. The newly completed two-seat Yak-7B ZK-YKB was built up from an ex-Egyptian Air Force Yak C.11, one of the cache recovered to La Ferté-Alais in the 1980s and later converted and flown in the US. Although “airworthy” when it arrived in New Zealand, it was decided that it needed much work, and a full restoration and improvement program was carried out, culminating in its first flights just before Wanaka. After a successful flight down to Wanaka, it was unable to participate in the airshow after developing brake problems on Thursday which, despite much hard work by many people, were still not resolved by Sunday evening.
(Image credit: Nigel Hitchman)
The sheer variety of displays at Wanaka was excellent, from the appearance over the horizon of 12 different civil helicopters, including the original Hiller UH-12 bought by Sir Tim Wallis, the late airshow founder, which then paraded up and down in front of the crowd, to the bizarre-looking but practical Transavia PL-12 Airtruk ZK-DMZ, which gave a great demonstration of a water drop followed by very agile flying. We also had a great display from a Kahu Helicopters UH-60 Black Hawk ZK-HKU.
(Image credit: Nigel Hitchman)
Continuing the unusual theme, it was great to see de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver ZK-CKH displaying with the newly imported Max Holste MH.1521 Broussard ZK-OUI, two designs intended for a similar role from a similar era.
One of the highlights was the excellent “Classics Formation” featuring five Tiger Moths, a Fox Moth, and a Chipmunk giving several passes in superb formation before two of the Tigers broke off for an excellent tail chase that was very well done. In between passes of the formation, the Waco UOC came by.
We also had aerobatics in a different Chipmunk, and earlier had seen a great demonstration of a falling leaf during a Tiger Moth aerobatic display which culminated in an excellent toilet paper cutting demonstration. I think it was the first time I’ve ever seen someone make every cut attempt successfully! Modern jets were represented by the “American Eagles” flying four locally based Aero L-39s, the pilots being better known as members of the Patriot Jet Team in the US. They gave a nice display. More in keeping with the warbird theme was DH.115 Vampire T.35 ZK-VAM (formerly RAAF A79-649) and two BAC Strikemasters: ZK-BAC painted in its original RNZAF colors as NZ6372 and ZK-VPR painted in its original Royal Saudi Air Force colors as 1130. These performed formation demonstrations followed by solo displays.
(Image credit: Nigel Hitchman)
The NZ Red Stars performed their Yak-52 12-ship display routine, and the “Roaring Forties” gave us a taste of Harvard formation aerobatics with their four Harvards. These two teams also combined for the final flypast. We also had an excellent display of Bevan Dewes’ Harvard NZ1044, painted in its original WWII-era OTU camouflage colors complete with practice bombs. This aircraft spent many years as an instructional airframe with Air New Zealand for apprentice training in Christchurch before being sold and later acquired by Bevan, who restored it together with Twenty24 Ltd. at Wanaka.
(Image credit: Nigel Hitchman)
The finale to the show was the massed flypast, with the Yak formation and Harvard formation (joined one day by the TBM Avenger and another day by extra Harvards) coming past, followed by the five fighters, with their last pass accompanied by the “wall of fire,” which is really a waste of good fuel.
(Image credit: Nigel Hitchman)
On static display were several interesting aircraft, including a fairly recently imported Republic Seabee N6224K, together with a selection of vintage and sport aircraft. Included among these was the newly completed Tiger Moth ZK-APS/NZ795, which was flown back from the restoration shop at Taieri just before the show with only four hours on the clock. While Cam and Tracey Hawley had their flying Beech C-17B VH-UXP displayed outside their hangar, their fabulous partially completed project, D-17A Antarctic Staggerwing NC20778, was on display in the Twenty24 hangar, where it is now progressing well with some superb recently completed metalwork on show. Several aircraft were available for rides at Wanaka through NZ Warbirds, with Legend Aviation offering flights in their Tiger Moths and Harvard NZ1044, and Graham Frew offering rides in his Yak-3 Full Noise. Legend Aviation also had their newly acquired Fox Moth ZK-APT there, and it was flown in the display. Although not yet available for rides, it should be very shortly. Overall, it was a great show at Wanaka, with a fantastic variety of aircraft. Even if there aren’t the same numbers of WWII warbirds as there used to be, it is still the most spectacular location in the world for an airshow. See you all there at Easter 2028! For more information about Warbirds over Wanaka, visit www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com.
