April 2015 African Pilot 69on the Western Front. A mortally wounded observer is slumped in
the rear cockpit of the plane which has been peppered with enemy
machine gun fi re. The wounded pilot is being dragged from the cockpit
by ground crew who hail a nurse driving a Model T Ford ambulance for
assistance. It is a scene that does not pull any punches.
A further diorama showing the grim realities of war represents
the scene shortly after Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the famed
‘Red Baron’, was shot down in 1918. Australian troops, whose
comrades may in fact have fired the fatal shots at the low flying
Fokker Triplane, have started stripping not only the plane, but its
legendary pilot of anything that could be carried away as a souvenir.
The insensitive ‘cobbers’ apart from cutting fabric from the triplane,
removed the boots from the pilot’s corpse! The scene, recreated on
a circular platform, can be viewed from any angle and is a touching
reminder that even the greatest of pilots are ultimately mere mortals.
The damaged Fokker Triplane is one of several private homebuilt
projects bought from around the world and utilised in displays in
this museum. The damage to the all-red triplane was apparently
achieved using a fork lift truck to deliberately break the wings, with
the results being indisputably realistic. On display adjacent to this
scene is the largest collection of relics relating to Von Richhofen to
be found in any one museum, including some of the items originally
plundered as souvenirs on the fateful day he died.
Although the majority of aircraft in the museum are replicas, a
number of original airframes are on display. Entering the museum
one sees the fi rst of these, a 1913 Caproni CA22, the last of its kind
in existence. The airframe is a real ‘time capsule’ having been left
un-restored and displayed as found in northern Italy complete with
linen covering dating back almost a full century! Also featuring in the
museum is the original fuselage frame of a Bristol F2b Fighter being
repaired in an extremely convincing workshop display where attention
to detail extends down to a butterfl y in the window. Finally an original
American-built DH 4M which served as a US mail plane in the 1920s
has also been added to the collection.
Adding a further dimension to the World War One theme of the museum,
are several aircraft that were built for movies set in this period and
made in the 1960s. The most famous (and arguably the best) of these
was The Blue Max and two of the Pfalz D.III used in that fi lm are now
owned and fl own by the museum. These replicas have become historic
in their own right having been built some fi fty years ago and well before
the advent of the less than satisfactory computer-generated imagery
(CGI) methods used in most modern fl ying fi lms.
The museum’s main theme ties in perfectly with the biennial Classic
Fighters’ air show held at Omaka which always features a range of
World War One aircraft and ground displays. Add to this the natural
beauty of the region and you have the perfect excuse to plan your visit
to this part of the antipodes to coincide with the fl ying event.
The long term plan is to expand the museum in phases, with the inter-
war era being next in line. If these plans come to fruition and the same
standard of displays is maintained, then this museum may come to
have no peer in telling the story of how man took to the air in earlier
decades. The New Zealanders who have made this museum a reality
can be very proud of their achievement which raises the benchmark for
aviation museums everywhere.