Planes are a big topic of discussion in our household, with two aircraft-mad young boys and a husband who daydreams of his other life as a pilot, had he not become a graphic designer. In general I find it all a bit of a snore, but occasionally something piques my interest and a trip to Classic Flyers in Mt Maunganui was certainly far more interesting than all the plane-spotting I have been subjected to thus far.
Started five years ago by a couple of plane owners who thought it might be nice to make their personal aircraft available for public viewing, Classic Flyers has grown organically since then. It now comprises more than 20 planes (most of which still actually fly) as other owners add to the collection.
It's a lovely space, with a cafe and three hangars full of vintage aircraft. There's even a jet fighter (F86 Sabre), a De Havilland Heron and a Hawker Hunter that visitors can sit in. Our boys - and their dad - loved pretending to be war pilots in the Hawker Hunter and even I thought it was pretty cool to get hands-on with a piece of history like that. Dad also rated sitting in the Sabre, as the view from the forward perched cockpit really gave the him the precarious feeling of early supersonic flight.
The Heron is a little passenger plane with seats all down one side. You can peek into the cockpit and my young boys enjoyed pretending they were flying off to some exotic destination. The hangars are great, with planes on the ground and dangling from the ceiling. Outside the Legacy Jet Centre are some adorable plane-shaped pedal cars for littlies and ours had a ball tootling along in them.
