The Wow Factor

摘要

Friday, April 9, Wanaka, New Zealand. The little South Island town seemed charged, as if a thunderstorm were imminent. It was barely 7 a.m., but the traffic was already thickening and the hotel's restaurant brimmed with customers, some wearing aviation ball caps, harrying the waitresses for their checks: "We gotta go! Can you please hurry up?" Several miles away, in the display area at the Wanaka airfield, stood the cause of all the hubbub: an assembly of some of the world's most prized warbirds. A World War I Sopwith Camel. A World War II Superma-rine Spitfire. A cold war Lavochkin La-9. British Vampires, Russian Polikarpovs, Chinese Nanchangs, American Kittyhawks... Today was the opening day of the Warbirds Over Wanaka airshow. The show originated with the aviation obsessions of Tim Wallis, a pilot who had made a fortune from a helicopter-based deer hunting operation he started in New Zealand in the 1970s. The money enabled Wallis to fulfill a long-held dream: In 1984, he bought a North American P-51D Mustang. Thus began what would evolve into the Alpine Fighter Collection, a group of vintage warbirds from around the world, almost all of which Wallis has had restored to flying condition.