Real craft on display at plane exhibit
This priceless collection of military aircraft from both world wars is worth the visit. Near Blenheim Airport, inside two standard-issue hangars, is a collection of military aircraft displayed in brilliantly realistic dioramas created by the magic of Weta Workshop and WingNut Films.
And it’s not just planes: there are personal items here once owned by Hermann Goering and the Red Baron.
Why go?
Sir Peter Jackson has invested so much time (and money) collecting all this stuff, it would be rude not to. His fascination with the Great War has enabled this Knights of the Sky exhibition, one of the biggest collections of World War I aircraft in the world, made up of more than 20 planes – many of them original, plus rebuilds, reproductions and models.
Dramatically lit, and authentically displayed complete with bullet holes and dents, they are so real that it’s even more incredible that humans actually flew and fought in these flimsy machines.
There’s a plane crashed into a snowy tree, another being flown by the pilot (a Kiwi) standing on the wing, one mired in a muddy field, a wooden flying boat, another crash-landed, its injured pilot being pulled from the cockpit. In the centre is a diorama showing the crashed plane of Baron von Richthofen, the Red Baron, being souvenired by Aussie Diggers, and in the display cases around it are some of his belongings including letters, trophies and even a tattered piece of his plane’s canvas covering showing the Iron Cross.
All of these artefacts, and those belonging to Goering and other flying aces, are meticulously labelled, telling