The New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum was an aerospace museum located at Wānaka Airport on New Zealand's South Island. It closed in March 2011 and was replaced in December 2011 by the Warbirds & Wheels museum of military aircraft as well as classic and vintage automobiles and motorcycles.[1]
The museum was founded by Sir Tim Wallis and housed in a new building at the Wānaka Airport. It was opened in 1993 by retired Group Captain Colin Gray.[2] Its first curator was Ian Brodie. In 1996 museum became one of the first aerospace museums on the internet. The museum includes the Alpine Fighter Collection, dedicated to New Zealand's fighters during World War II.[3] The museum was funded, in part, by grants from the Community Trust of Otago.[4]