The Warbirds Over Wanaka Community Trust has announced changes to its Scholarship programme with Warbird aircraft engineers now eligible to apply along with Warbird pilots.

Since 2016 scholarships worth a total of $40,000 have been awarded to younger Warbird pilots to help them get valuable time flying historic aircraft.

Warbirds Over Wanaka General Manager Ed Taylor says they’re pleased with the success of the scholarships with most of the recipients to date being involved in the 2024 airshow.

“We had to halt the scholarship programme after the Covid-forced cancellations of the 2020 and 2022 airshows but following our successful 2024 event we’re now in a position to resume the programme.”

“The original scholarships were restricted to pilots but we’ve now decided to increase the amount of the scholarships and expand who can apply. This means Warbird aircraft engineers are now eligible,” says Ed.

Each scholarship will now be worth up to $10,000 following each successful airshow going forward. The number and value of scholarships awarded will remain at the discretion of the Trust Scholarship team.

Applications for the 2025 scholarship round will open on July 1st with application forms available now from https://www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com

Applications will close on July 31st with the winners announced in September this year.

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