28 The Hunter Warbirds Museum in Scone is a living centre of heritage aviation offering an experience that will excite, educate and inspire visitors of all ages. It will come to life on March 28 and 29, 2026 for the Warbirds Over Scone event, the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. The first Scone Airshow and Fair was held in 1984, the event championed by Colin Pay who founded Pays Air Service in Scone in 1964. Col was one of the founders of warbird restoration, building both a collection and a business around it. Colin died in 2007, but his son Ross has carried on his love of warbirds and aviation. He is now the part owner of Hunter Warbirds alongside world renowned aerobatic pilot Paul Bennet. Together they are creating the biggest collection of flying WWII aircraft in the southern hemisphere and Warbirds Over Scone will be the biggest airshow. “Taking into account just what is here at Hunter Warbirds makes it big, then you look at the number of Mustangs and Kittyhawks I’ll bring up and it will be the first time since the end of WWII that we have had more than three Spitfires fly at once in Australia; we could even have four of five of them. Add in all the aerobatic planes and it’ll be the biggest airshow by miles,” Paul explained. “Warbirds Over Scone will be over three days with a STEM Education Day for the kids on the Friday. We love promoting aviation and we want to promote it to the next generation of aviators. It’s great to get those young people involved. “We also want to honour the people who fought for our country who flew these cool machines before our time.” For the lovers of aviation, you’ll find the Supermarine Spitfire built in 1943 and saved from being scrapped and fully restored to airworthy condition, the Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk which was restored by Col Pay to flying condition, a recently restored de Havilland Vampire T-55 and many more. You can see them all on display in the Museum Monday to Sunday 9am to 4pm. “We have such a good variety of airplanes here now, we are basically the biggest collection of FLYING WWII aircraft in the southern hemisphere,” said Ross. “We have a bunch of P51 Mustangs, Kittyhawks, Hawker Sea Fury, Wirraway, the Harvard, the Vampire is recently flying and the only one flying in Australia. “We have a not-for-profit which is the Hunter Fighter Collection – it is dedicated to the collection, acquisition, restoration and display of historical and significant Australian built and operated aircraft. It’s made possible by our dedicated volunteers and financial support of our benefactors; it’s keeping our aviation history alive,” Ross smiled. Warbirds Over Scone will be held at: Scone Airport, Bunnan Road, Scone, NSW on Saturday March 28 and Sunday March 29, 2026. Gates will be open 9am to 5pm each day with flying displays approx. 10:30am to 4pm each day. Official site and tickets: www.warbirdsoverscone.com.au HUNTER WARBIRDS EYES TO THE SKY Photo credits: RAAF Defence Australia & Gavin Conroy
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