Classic Fighters on this weekend

This weekend, the skies over Marlborough will roar with the sound of classic aircraft in one of the best air shows in the world.

The Yealand’s Classic Fighters has become a destination event for people from across New Zealand.

Jane Orphan, chief executive of the centre, has been involved since its inception.

“In the late 1990s a group of aircraft enthusiasts, including my husband Graham, imported two Chinese Nanchang planes.

“They had meetings in our house to discuss putting on an air show to raise money to help establish an aviation museum. I couldn’t help but be dragged in,” she laughs.

“For the first show we were doing the ticketing from home and it was a bit of a jumble but that event taught us a lot. I became a co-ordinator for the public area and loved the buzz of it all.”

“We were fortunate to lease the land required from local farmer and aviation enthusiast Carlton Corlett and with the help of money raised from the air show, along with contributions from the Marlborough District Council and the New Zealand Government, we were able to build the heritage centre’s first building which was finished in 2005,” she explains.

While Jane continues to oversee the aviation centre, her husband Graham has passed management of the air show to passion-