Paul Muller made no secret of his disappointment when two planned visits to Kaitaia by the only Catalina flying boat in the world that is fitted out to carry passengers were cancelled thanks to poor weather in April last year, but he now has everything crossed in the hope that it will land at the town's airport on Friday February 7.
The 76-year-old piece of aviation history is due to spend two days in Kaitaia, to take part in a Kaitaia Aero Club open day, and is scheduled to make multiple local flights with passengers aboard.
Mr Muller said he had been a lifelong fan of the aircraft, thanks in part to the yarns he heard as a child from a friend's father.
"I spent hours and hours hanging out with my best friend Pine Takarangi when we were growing up on a farm south of Patea," he said.
"His dad, Mick, would tell us tales of when he was a navigator/radio operator assigned to the RNZAF in a PBY Catalina during World War II, patrolling the Pacific, looking for enemy subs, downed airmen, lost seamen and signs of Japanese activity.