WWII Warbird Flight Experience Tauranga

A Warbird. In Your Hands.

Step into the cockpit of Liberté, a restored Yakovlev Yak-7B fighter and the first aircraft operated by Liberté Flights.

Built with two cockpits and dual flight controls, the Yak-7B offers something far more engaging than a traditional passenger flight.

Through the controls you feel the fighter come alive — the surge of power, the pull of a turn, and the rare opportunity to fly the aircraft yourself.

Operating from Tauranga on New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty, Liberté Flights offers a rare opportunity to experience a genuine warbird from the cockpit.

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A rare opportunity. The only dual-control WWII fighter experience in New Zealand.

An Allied Fighter Few Have Flown

Yakovlev Yak-7B Fighter Aircraft

Liberté belongs to the Yakovlev family of fighters flown by the Normandie–Niemen regiment during the Second World War.

The aircraft flying today has undergone more than six years of meticulous restoration, stripped back to the original airframe structure and rebuilt piece by piece.

Today the aircraft flies again — not in combat, but as a living warbird.

Experienced from the cockpit

Heritage

In 1942, a group of French fighter pilots escaped occupied France to continue the fight for their country– and for their freedom.

They formed the Normandie–Niemen regiment, flying Yakovlev fighters alongside Allied forces on the Eastern Front.

Over the course of the war they flew more than 5,000 combat sorties and claimed 273 aerial victories, becoming one of the most successful Allied fighter units of the conflict.

The aircraft they flew carried more than weapons. For the pilots of Normandie–Niemen, they carried the chance to fight for their freedom.

Liberté carries markings inspired by those aircraft — a tribute to the pilots who flew them and the machines that carried them into history.

Explore the Aircraft

Not a passenger.

A participant.

The Experience

01

Your experience begins at the airfield in Tauranga.

02

You climb into the cockpit and the aircraft comes to life.

03

You feel the power of the 1,200-horsepower engine as the fighter accelerates down the runway and lifts into the sky.

04

The Bay of Plenty coastline spreads out below — one of the most beautiful landscapes in New Zealand to experience from the cockpit of a historic fighter.

Most historic aircraft flights place passengers in the back seat to simply watch.

Here, you take the controls.

The defining feature of the Yak-7B is simple: two cockpits, two sets of controls.

Originally developed as a training fighter, the aircraft allowed an instructor and pilot to fly together. That same design now allows something few warbird experiences can offer — the chance to interact with the aircraft from the controls.

When you sit in the cockpit of Liberté, the aircraft becomes something more than a machine to observe. You feel the aircraft move beneath you — the engine pulling, the aircraft banking, the unmistakable character of a wartime fighter in flight.

This is not a simulation. It is a real warbird, flying over the Bay of Plenty.

Under the supervision of your pilot, you experience how these aircraft were meant to be flown — responsive, powerful, and alive in the sky.

Few people will ever experience a fighter aircraft this way.

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