Private Guided Tours

Enjoy a private guided tour of either of our incredible exhibitions, Knights of the Sky or Dangerous Skies.

Private Guided Tours - Knights of the Sky

The Great War (WWI) is the stage on which the story of aviation and the ‘Knights of the Sky’ comes to life. This is the personal collection of film director Sir Peter Jackson and through his generosity a series of dioramas, created by Wingnut Films and enhanced by lifelike mannequins by Weta Workshop combined to provide a museum experience, never seen before its opening in 2006.

Rare memorabilia on display; the envy of any national collection ranges from beautifully crafted ‘trench’ art through to personal items belonging to national flying heroes such as the USA’s Eddie Rickenbacker, France’s René Fonck and Germany’s Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen and the infamous Hermann Goering.

No aviation museum would be complete without flying machines and ‘Knights of the Sky’ has a mixture of original, flyable, and static replica aircraft. The rarity and beauty of these machines including a Curtiss MF Flying Boat, the Italian time capsule Caproni CA.22 or the colourful Fokker Triplanes can be appreciated by all, not just aviation enthusiasts.

Visit Sir Peter Jackson’s Knights of the Sky Exhibition and travel to a time when the harshness and cruelty of the war in the trenches contrasted with the chivalry and bravado of the war in the air.

Private Guided Tours - Dangerous Skies

Opened in November 2016, the exhibition Dangerous Skies broadens the Omaka experience into the more familiar territory of World War Two, even while breaking new ground. Taking visitors on a journey the through lesser-known stories of the war on the Eastern front, those of the world’s only female fighter aces and the most famous of all women regiments; Russia’s 588th Night Bombers, or ‘Night Witches’ as the Germans called them.

Like World War One’s Knights of the Sky, Dangerous Skies features mannequins made by Weta Workshop, and original, flyable static aircraft in larger-than-life dioramas, capturing specific snapshots in history.

In 2019, Dangerous Skies has undergone a refresh and the main exhibition area now holds two additional aircraft, both originals and never seen before at Omaka. The first a Messerschmitt Bf108 once owned and flown by German ace Franz Stigler, and the second a Lockheed Hudson, an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft which has been suspended in a dramatic crash scene in the depths of a Pacific island jungle.

The Griffon-powered Spitfire Mk. XIV (one of fewer than a handful of flying spitfires in Australasia), is still in residence as is the Focke-Wulf Fw-190. Full Noise, a Russian Yak-3Ua and a Reno Air Races' Gold Class alumni is on display alongside fighter ace Lydia Litvyak. This aircraft is capable of speeds up to 407 mph and is available for joy flights!

More info

All children must be accompanied by an adult.

What to bring

• Bring a smile
• Bring a camera
• and have a blast!!