About 120 personnel from Ohakea air base, near Palmerston North, will be based at Wanaka Airport for "Exercise Wiseowl".
Squadron Leader Bill Dewar said Exercise Wiseowl was a twice-yearly Pilot Training Squadron deployment designed to test student military pilots in formation flying.
About 10 RNZAF Airtrainer aircraft will be deployed to Wanaka from Ohakea for the 11 wings course pilots and their instructors from PTS.
The airtrainers will fly formation sorties as part of the exercise. About 40 tents will be set up at Wanaka Airport to house the pilots and ground staff.
The tent city would include field catering, a field medical facility, an administration unit, an operations headquarters, a logistics unit providing camp supplies and spares as well as a maintenance centre for the aircraft, Sqn Ldr Dewar said.
Operating away from their home base at Ohakea would give the student pilots a taste of what it was like to work from field conditions.
An advance party will arrive in Wanaka on February 22 to begin establishing the camp, Aside from its operational tasking, the exercise will also give schools, community organisations, and the public a chance to visit the camp to meet Air Force personnel and find out more about the RNZAF.
Wanaka Airport and the RNZAF camp will be open to the public on February 28.
The open day would feature static displays and a short aerial demonstration, including formation flying, Sqn Ldr Dewar said.
