The 2023 Wanaka warbirds airshow in New Zealand is to play host to a visit from a blue-painted WWII Spitfire that is based in the UK.
The aircraft will be shipped and will take part in 90th anniversary celebrations of the first flight of the iconic Supermarine Spitfire fighter.
(The Spitfire is co-credited with repelling the Nazi air force during the Battle of Britain in 1940.)
This aircraft is one of only two Mark XI Spitfires flying in the world and played a unique role in the UK’s Covid-19 response.
It will be displayed by its owner, and the world’s most experienced Spitfire pilot John Romain; they will be joined by New Zealand’s only flying Spitfire, a Mark IX based out of RNZAF Ohakea air base.
“The last time I flew at the Wanaka airshow was in 2018 when I brought over my (German-Spanish designed WWII) Buchon ME-109. I had such a good time I have always wanted to return,” Romain says.
“Marking the 90th anniversary of the first flight of the Spitfire at such a well-known airshow will be a great honour.”
Warbirds Over Wanaka general manager Ed Taylor says that it’s a huge undertaking shipping a 90-year-old aircraft halfway around the world, made less stressful by airshow partners like NZ’s Mainfreight.
The blue-painted Mark XI Spitfire is designed for high-altitude, long-distance photo reconnaissance; its guns were removed in favour of more fuel tanks.
In 2020, during the COVID pandemic in the UK, Romain flew this aircraft over villages to raise morale.
The positive feedback he received led him to paint the words ‘THANK U NHS’ on the underside of the wings as he flew over more than 250 hospitals raising £130,000 for the National Health Service charities.
OTHER WANAKA SHOW NEWS
- New Zealand’s newest aerobatic display team will make its debut at next year’s Wanaka: the Southern Force consists of four-ship Pitts Special one-seat high-performance biplanes. The team is being trained by Australian Jeremy Miller and will perform over all three days of the airshow.
- Two other displays teams will also participate at the airshow: the 12-aircraft NZ Red Stars with their two-seat Soviet made Yak 52 trainers, and the Roaring Forties, flying US-made AT-6 two-seat Texan/Harvard trainers.
- A US team, the American Eagles, is expected to race against Kiwi counterparts around Wanaka airport, flying in NZ-based jets, organisers say. The team flies as the Patriots at airshows around the US. The airshow customarily attracts a RAAF flypast and has been attended by the US and French air forces in the past.
- Returning next year is an ex-RNZAF P-51D Mustang which spent 67 years in a farmhouse near Nelson before it was bequeathed by the owner’s estate and is now part of the RNZAF’s Heritage Flight.
The Wanaka International Airshow will be held from April 3-5 (Easter), 2026 and tickets are on sale now at Ticketek.
MORE SPITFIRE NEWS: Veteran back in the cockpit after 80 years
