Roaming the Wairarapa is a refreshing, invigorating affair at any time of year, with its fabled palette of food and wine to sample, storybook villages, wildlife delights and staggering museums. In mid-February, Wings over Wairarapa roars back into life, a biennial aviation extravaganza in excelsis. The internationally renowned air show, the largest in the North Island, will bring over 70 different aircraft to Masterton for a weekend of aerial entertainment.

Staged every two years, this is the 10th outing for Wings, which is vowing to be bigger, brighter, bolder than any previous festival. Prior to Christmas, I had the pleasure of meeting the air show director, Tom Williams and the event manager, Jenny Gasson. Tom’s passion for aviation was hatched 65 years ago, while watching a tigermoth over Te Mata peak when he was at boarding school. He took a photo of the spectacle on a box brownie – and his love-affair with flight has remained aloft ever since. 

Jenny remarked how they are very proud of their impeccable health and safety record, where no corners are cut over risk mitigation. Organising air shows certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted. There’s no doubt that the WWI and WWII aircraft are the serious crowd-pleasers, alongside contemporary aircraft and the future of aviation. Some of the birds taking flight include the de Havilland Vampire, the Venom, the Avron Anson, Corsair, the P-40 Kittyhawk, the Spitfire, Strikemaster and the newly formed RNZAF Black Falcons will make their New Zealand debut with an acrobatic display, in five T-6C Texan II aircraft.

The Black Falcons have replaced the former RNZAF display team, the Red Checkers. Celebrating their 80th anniversary, the air force will also be bringing their helicopter fleets and an array of fixed-wing aircraft to the air show. Extra thrills will be provided by staging New Zealand’s first night show, complete with a pyrotechnics performance by two Aerosparx gliders. The signature event is a New Zealand first, whereby the smoke and wing-tip pyrotechnics on the gliders will create a wondrous night-time spectacle. 

There’s also going to be a world-record attempt by the UK based glider display team, GliderFX, who will attempt to a new record for the most consecutive rolls by a glider being towed by an aircraft.  For the uninitiated, a roll is an aerobatic manoeuvre where the aircraft turns 360 degrees around its longitudinal axis. For the record attempt to be successful the glider cannot stop rolling, even a one second pause will stop the count. In addition to the 70 plus aircraft on show, there will be static displays, military vehicles and market stalls, showcasing the bounty of the Wairarapa.

If you’re a hard-core aviation enthusiast, the Gold Pass Marquee is where you’ll want to be, complete with a dedicated grandstand and fully catered bar to help lubricate the wheels of conversation with like-minded plane buffs. Held at Hood Aerodrome in Masterton from February 17 to 19, for tickets and full details head to www.wings.co.nz

The Vintage Aviator Collection’s remarkable trove of some of the world’s rarest aircraft undeniably takes pride of place in Wings over Wairarapa. The company’s collection is primarily based at Hood Aerodrome, while their manufacturing base is situated in Wellington, restoring and producing aircraft for private collectors and publicly displayed collections, worldwide. The collection’s chief pilot and production manager, Gene De Marco, is a charismatic craftsman who played tour guide for me, on a walk through the main hanger at Hood Aerodrome, home to one of the world’s largest collections of flying WWI aircraft.

Spend a few minutes with Gene and the passion for these vintage flying machines fast become infectious! Sharing the wonder of flight with me, I marvelled at the original RAF BE.2F aircraft, the only one in the world still flying. This was Geoffrey De Havilland’s first aircraft model, launched in 1914. Another major crowd-favourite is Snoopy’s Plane, a Sopworth F1 Camel Scout – also the only one in the world still flying. 

Guided Tours operate on Saturdays and Sundays, November – April, while flying weekends accentuate the experience, on the last weekend of every month. Although all displayed aircraft are presented with information boards outlining relevant statistics, guided tours offer vivid historical insights recalling the courage of airmen flying in open cockpits and freezing conditions, without parachutes, radios or heaters. How about getting your photograph taken inside the cockpit of the Curtiss Helldiver, built specifically for the blockbuster movie ‘King Kong”?  For full details, head to http://thevintageaviator.co.nz

For more tips on exploring this wonderful region, head to www.wairarapanz.com

Mike Yardley is Newstalk ZB’s Travel Correspondent on Jack Tame Saturday Mornings.