Warbirds, Ireland v New Zealand?

[Silver]

I've just been looking at some pics of airworthy warbirds in action over New Zealand, and it got me thinking ......


Why are there no warbirds flying in Ireland ?


Here we have two similarly-sized countries in terms of population and backgrounds (i.e. traditionally farming), and yet NZ is literally bustling with 'all things aviation' compared to Ireland !

I was there for several months last year, and the number of aviation museums, helicopters (many parked on farms !), homebuilt aircraft and especially the amount of warbirds was unreal for such a small country !!

Ok, so the RNZAF participated in WWII, but even so - not one airworthy warbird in Ireland ?

[Frank]

It's basically all down to money and interest, if someone has the interest in history & warbirds and they have the money it makes things a lot easier.

For example, I have the interest but I don't have the money, although if I won the lottery......

It also helps if the general population is very aviation minded and has lots of airshows every year like in the UK, airshow appearance fees help to keep a lot of the warbirds flying, but they would need to be at a show nearly every weekend to be viable.


Regards,

Frank.

[IAS]

I think an even bigger influence is the size of the country and the fact that aircraft are being widely used as a tool for farming. My understanding is that a lot of these old aircraft were purchased as work aircraft and when retired became hobby aircraft?

Ireland is roughly 30% the size of New Zealand with a similar population and obviously they same need for aircraft does not arise.


IAS