Planes from all eras set to fly over Hawke's Bay during Art Deco Festival

The RNZAF Black Falcons team in aerial action. PHOTO/File

There will be an aerobatic taste of the old and the very new during the 2018 Tremains Art Deco Festival as well as the appearance of a rare Douglas DC3 which was once owned by the King of Tonga.

Art Deco Trust events director Glenn Pickering said the airborne side of the great festival, which kicks off on February 14, was always a popular part of it all.

"It is always great to see them and hear them here," he said, adding the immaculately restored DC3 would bring back lots of memories for lots of locals and visitors.

"That will be pretty special."

The DC3 has a colourful history, having been built and gifted to the RNZAF in 1945. Photo / File

The DC3 will be joined in the skies by the traditional Harvards of the Warbirds Roaring Forties display team, with five of them set to arrive in Napier to show off their spectacular skills in the now also traditional Friday night display over Marine Parade.

They will roar into action at 7pm and at 7.45pm the modern look of aerobatic displays will come into view when the Royal New Zealand Air Force Black Falcons team does its thing.

The Black Falcons is made up of five of the Air Force's 11 new T-6C Texan training aircraft which have replaced the CT-4E Air Trainers.

The Roaring Forties Harvards will also put on a display on Saturday along Marine Parade at 12.15pm.

On Sunday they will again take to the skies at 2pm with the Black Falcons then putting on a display at 2.45pm.

"We also have eight to 10 Tiger Moths flying in for the weekend and possibly some other aircraft will attend," a spokesman for the Napier Aero Club, which is helping host the aviation visitors, said.

For members of the local club the arrival of the DC3 was "big news" and for people wanting to taste the rare experience of flying in one of the iconic airliners there would be the opportunity to take a flight.

Air Chathams will be carrying out 30 minute flights on the festival weekend Saturday and Sunday, for $99 a seat, over the city and Marine Parade from its Hawke's Bay Airport base.

It has a colourful history, having been built and gifted to the RNZAF in 1945, where it was operated through to the early 1950s when the National Airways Corporation (NAC) bought it.

In the early 1970s it was sold on, and was used for top-dressing, charters and freight work, and was eventually purchased by the King of Tonga who had ended up with two of them.

When Air Chathams bought a hangar from the King the airline was delighted to also get the aircraft inside it as well.

It was restored and is now used by Air Chathams for charter work.

The Harvards and Texans, and other arrivals, will also be based at the airport alongside the DC3 and people can take a closer look at them on the ground at a charge of $10 entry per car, with the proceeds going to the Napier Air Training Corps and to help with the costs of bringing the aircraft to the Bay.

Napier Aero Club president Graham Duley praised the support from the Hawke's Bay Airport and Fulton Hogan for the assistance they had provided in the organisation of the flying events.