Qualla: Warbirds over Wanaka https://qualla.com/warbirds-over-wanaka en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:28 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/0/3/warbirds-over-wanaka-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Warbirds over Wanaka https://qualla.com/warbirds-over-wanaka Warbirds over Wanaka: Introduction https://qualla.com/warbirds-over-wanaka/ Photo credit The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. It started because a deer hunter wanted to show off his airplanes. Sir Tim Wallis made his fortune in live deer recovery - capturing wild deer from New Zealand's backcountry by helicopter, a profession that required equal parts flying skill and recklessness. He poured that fortune into collecting World War II fighter aircraft, restoring Spitfires and Mustangs and Kittyhawks to airworthy condition in hangars at Wanaka Airport. In 1988, he decided to invite people to watch them fly. Fourteen thousand showed up. By 2006, the number was 111,000 - a crowd larger than many New Zealand cities, converging on a grass airfield beneath the Southern Alps to watch machines built for war perform in peacetime. Warbirds over Wanaka had become one of the great air shows on Earth, held every second Easter in a place so remote that accommodation books up two years in advance.

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Image: The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/0/3/warbirds-over-wanaka-wp/rb03-warbirds-over-wanaka-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Warbirds over Wanaka: The Alpine Fighter Collection https://qualla.com/warbirds-over-wanaka/ Photo credit The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. Wallis didn't just buy old airplanes; he resurrected them. His Alpine Fighter Collection, based at the New Zealand Fighter Pilots' Museum in Wanaka, became one of the southern hemisphere's most significant warbird collections. A Spitfire Mk.XVI. A P-51D Mustang. A Curtiss P-40K K...

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Image: The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/0/3/warbirds-over-wanaka-wp/rb03-warbirds-over-wanaka-the-alpine-fighter-collection.mp3 0:06 2 full Warbirds over Wanaka: Legends in the Crowd https://qualla.com/warbirds-over-wanaka/ Photo credit The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. The aircraft are only half the story. Warbirds over Wanaka has drawn aviation legends to its flight line - Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier, and Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, who attended as guest of honour in 2004 when an estimated 99,000...

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Image: The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/0/3/warbirds-over-wanaka-wp/rb03-warbirds-over-wanaka-legends-in-the-crowd.mp3 0:06 3 full Warbirds over Wanaka: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Threshold https://qualla.com/warbirds-over-wanaka/ Photo credit The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. Airshows carry inherent risk, and Wanaka has not been spared. In 1994, pilot Ian Reynolds died while displaying his de Havilland Chipmunk, casting a shadow over an event that had introduced eleven new aircraft types that year. In 2018, a Yak-3 struck a parked cherry picker while ...

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Image: The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/0/3/warbirds-over-wanaka-wp/rb03-warbirds-over-wanaka-triumphs-and-tragedies-at-the-threshold.mp3 0:06 4 full Warbirds over Wanaka: Easter at the End of the World https://qualla.com/warbirds-over-wanaka/ Photo credit The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia., CC BY 2.5. Part of what makes Warbirds over Wanaka extraordinary is the setting. The airfield sits 10 kilometers southeast of town, beneath mountains that still carry snow at Easter. The Southern Alps form a wall to the west. The tussock-covered hills of Central Otago roll east toward the L...

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Image: The original uploader was Mpj17 at English Wikipedia. | CC BY 2.5

]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/b/0/3/warbirds-over-wanaka-wp/rb03-warbirds-over-wanaka-easter-at-the-end-of-the-world.mp3 0:06 5 full