Since first opening its doors in December 2006, the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in Blenheim, New Zealand has rapidly gained an impressive reputation as being one of the foremost aviation museums in the Southern Hemisphere. The museum currently houses the ‘Knights of The Sky’ exhibition – a spectacular presentation of static and flyable aircraft, and rare aviation memorabilia from the period 1910 to 1918.

During the construction of the facility it was anticipated that the first of the 30 x 50m hangars would house a collection of World War 1 aircraft, while the second hangar of the same size would be used to display many of the other notable warbird and historic aircraft based at Omaka Aerodrome in Blenheim.

However, as the number of Great War aircraft available to be displayed grew, it became apparent that this first stage of the museum could concentrate solely on aircraft of the period up to the end of the First World War.

The Centre now houses over 21 full size aircraft of the period, from the stunningly well preserved original Caproni Ca.22 (the only one in the world), through to a newly built Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a, constructed to highly original standards by The Vintage Aviator Ltd in Wellington, New Zealand. In between these extremes is an amazing range of Great War aircraft types from well known (at the time) companies such as Fokker, Bristol, Pfalz, Halberstadt, Nieuport, Albatross, Airco, Siemens and Morane-Saulnier.

In addition to the aircraft the centre houses an incredible display of early aviation memorabilia. A flying suit belonging to American ace Eddie Rickenbacker features, as does Frenchman René Fonck’s Croix de Guerre and Ernst Udet’s Blue Max. Other items belonging to the German aces Max Immelman & Oswald Boelcke are on display, as are many items of insignia salvaged from crashed aircraft – in particular items from the Lafayette Escadrille.

A separate area contains a display of von Richthofen family memorabilia. This includes such items as the actual cross cut from Manfred von Richthofen’s crashed aircraft, trophies belonging to both Manfred and his brother Lothar, their father Albrecht’s dress uniform, and many other unique artifacts that once belonged to the family.

One aspect of the displays which makes the OAHC one of the most stunning aviation museums in the world, has little to do with aircraft, and much more to do with the motion picture industry. This museum is not a run-of-the-mill aviation facility with rows of aircraft parked closely together in a hangar full of roped off ‘enclosures’. Instead the aircraft are displayed as part of numerous full size dioramas put together by the team from Wing Nut Films and Weta Workshops in Wellington (the same team that created many of the visual effects for the Lord of the Rings movies, and other recent Hollywood blockbusters).

Amongst other sights you’ll see the ground crew extracting a wounded pilot from a French aircraft just as the Model T Ford field ambulance arrives amidst the water and mud of the airfield; the crew of an American Breguet 14 checking their navigation while armourers on the ground finishing rearming their guns; a German pilot talking to a Frenchman he’s just shot down (the German having landed his aircraft on a snow covered field); and New Zealand ace ‘Grid’ Caldwell about to leap into the mud of the front line trenches from the wing of his damaged SE5.a.

In the first eighteen months of operation the reaction of visitors to the centre has been one of amazement and high praise. This representative comment is from one visitor from Western Australia:

“What an experience. I have visited some excellent aviation museums around the world, and this is the most awesome, realistic first class display I have even seen. It would be without doubt the BEST in the world. I had to go around the Centre about half a dozen times to take in the displays. Well done to all involved, I will visit again.”

Situated adjacent to Omaka Aerodrome which is historical in its own right, the Centre is open 363 days per year, so there’s no excuse for not stopping in to see the displays during your next visit to the region.

Contributing Editors: Allan Udy & Alex Mitchell, New Zealand
Historical Aviation Film Unit
www.aviationfilm.com
info@aviationfilm.com

Contributing Photographers: Allan Udy (AU) and Russell Drew (RD)

Links:
Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre
The Vintage Aviator Ltd

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