Author(s): Neville Peat

NZ Biography & Memoir

WHEN Sir Tim Wallis's Spitfire crashed at Wanaka Airport in 1996, the accident was reported around the world. This lion-hearted Southern New Zealander, a legendary figure in the aviation, deer farming and business worlds, was suddenly fighting for his life. A life that had been dynamic, filled with adventure, risk and success...Tim Wallis is known as the helicopter pilot and entrepreneur who helped pioneer New Zealand's deer industry. He was a pathfinder in what has been described as 'New Zealand's Last Great Adventure' - the recovery of red deer from the Southern Alps in the 1960s and 1970s. A multi-millionaire, he is also the man behind the phenomenally successful Warbirds Over Wanaka air pageant. In recent decades he's had a passion for collecting, restoring and flying vintage fighter planes, best expressed by his Alpine Fighter Collection and a museum set up to commemorate New Zealand fighter pilots. Sir Tim Wallis has pushed the boundaries in extraordinary, often spectacular ways. In 1968, he broke his back in a helicopter crash near Queenstown and doctors told him he might never walk again. He did. Three times his business almost failed through financial pressures and three times it bounced back. In the 1996 Spitfire crash, he was given just a slim chance of survival. But survive he did. With astounding determination, he has learned to speak and walk again, albeit slowly, and now he travels widely within New Zealand and overseas to explore new interests. Tim's life story is told here by writer Neville Peat, who shares Tim's great love of the South: Fiordland, South Westland, Central Otago and the Southern Alps. Undoubtedly Tim inspires all who meet him; his story is equally inspiring. Author Neville Peat draws us into the hurricane that is Sir Tim Wallis.