In its heyday, the World War 2-era jet fighter could have flown from Christchurch to Mandeville in about 30 minutes.
Now decommissioned, it took a de Havilland DH100 Vampire NZ5765 more than 10 hours to be trucked to its new home at the Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre yesterday.
Croydon Aviation Heritage Trust trustee Colin Smith said the organisation was "grateful and delighted" to be gifted the 1940s-era aircraft by the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
"We’re very, very appreciative because we’ve looked for a number of years to try and acquire this type of aircraft.
"We’ve explored the possibility of bringing a Vampire in from Australia or from the UK, but it was always the expense."
The Southland aviation centre had a range of early de Havilland planes in its collection.
It was built during the shift away from the traditional method building aircraft from wood, to building them from metal.
"It’s half wood and half metal.
"Historically it is significant to us in that our de Havilland collection is of light, early aircraft, which were virtually all wood and fabric."
The Vampire was also the second jet aircraft used by the Royal Air Force, entering operational service in 1946.
The aircraft had been flown in combat in the United Kingdom, before delivery to the RNZAF in 1956.
More recently it was on loan to the Warbirds and Wheels museum in Wanaka, before returning to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Wigram last year.
Unlike some of the centre’s other aircraft, the Vampire could not be flown as it lacked an engine and other components.
A restoration facility owned by Mr Smith worked on planes the centre had acquired, and an effort would be made to complete the plane.
However, as a single-seater aircraft, it would never be one of the trust’s planes which took passengers for jaunts in the sky above Mandeville.
