Sir Tim was the founder of the popular Warbirds Over Wanaka Airshow in 1988 which has displayed to the public vintage aircraft over the last 25 years.
He was also a major figure in the establishment of New Zealand’s venison industry, was still the major shareholder of Wānaka-based Alpine Group at the time of his death, and was a former director of more than two dozen companies.
His wife Prue, Lady Wallis, told the Otago Daily Times that Sir Tim died this evening. She said he was "a special bloke" to a lot of people, but especially to his family.
“He was a tough cookie, he loved his family and his sons.
“He died peacefully at home with both sons and me there, with his favourite helicopter parked by the window.
“Tomorrow is the anniversary of our second son’s death, Nick. We thought he would hold out for that but no, he wanted to give himself his own day.”
The couple lost two sons, Nick and Matthew, in separate helicopter crashes three months apart in 2018.
Sir Tim had several life-threatening accidents of his own, including breaking his back in a helicopter accident in 1968. Injuries he received when his Spitfire crashed in 1996 left him in a wheelchair.
Friend and Warbirds pilot John Lamont said Sir Tim's legacy is still there and will carry on.
“I first met Tim back in 1988 when they ran the first Wings over Wanaka.
“He was a massive inspiration because he was so passionate about warbird aircrafts and operating them - a group of us was very fortunate to get involved with that. It was a marvellous era.”
'Amazing legacy'
Author and friend Neville Peat documented Sir Tim’s life in his book Hurricane Tim in 2005, and said writing the life story of a man like Sir Tim called for some innovative ways to express his dynamism and the full force of his personality.
“Wherever I went for information, I found people only too willing to give me their spin on Tim. This often took the form of anecdotes that spanned the gamut of human experience. Drama, humour, fear, shock and amazement were common themes.”
Warbirds Over Wanaka general manager Ed Taylor said he had some very fond memories of catching up with Sir Tim over the past 12 years.
“Sir Tim was a regular out at his airport office and I loved nothing more than having chats with him which almost always were about the airshow. He loved nothing more than talking about aircrafts and the airshow.”
Mr Taylor said Sir Tim is held in the highest regard in the world of Warbird shows.
“I might be talking to a relatively young Warbird display pilot in the US or Europe and they would ask after Sir Tim - they all knew him by name.”
Warbirds Over Wanaka Community Trust chairman John Gilks said Sir Tim has left an amazing legacy.
“Today the airshow attracts more than 50,000 people over three days and pumps $42 million into the regional economy.”
Mr Gilks said back in the early days, Sir Tim’s main reasons for staging it were to share his collection of World War 2 fighters with the general public, but also to help attract visitors to Wānaka - a sleepy little town back then.
“He achieved all of that and a lot more. He was a real business entrepreneur and his legacy in this region goes way beyond the airshow.”
A passion for aviation
Sir Tim was born in Christchurch in 1938, educated at Christ's College, and in his early years worked in the timber industry, logging and milling forests on the West Coast.
His abiding interest in hunting deer led to the establishment of a venison business in the early 1960s - using helicopters to recover carcasses, then as ‘‘gunships’’ and eventually to capture and transport live deer for deer farming.
He collected and restored World War 2 aircraft such as Spitfires and Mustangs, and that eventually led to the biennial airshow at Wānaka Airport - the last two cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Wallis family have owned and operated Alpine Helicopters Hangar - now known as Alpine Helicopters and Minaret Station - in Wānaka for 55 years.
Sir Tim survived 15 air crashes in his lifetime, with the 1996 one in a World War 2-era Spitfire, ending his solo flying career and nearly his life.
In 1964, Sir Tim bought his first helicopter and crashed while learning to fly the following year.
The first life-changing crash was in 1968. He was rescuing stock near Queenstown after a snow storm and flew his Hiller chopper into power lines. He injured his spine and wasn't expected to walk again - but did, with the help of a caliper on his left leg.
In 1989, with fuel problems, it crashed in a forced landing at Waipukurau. Another crash followed during a landing in 1992 at Blenheim.
But it was in a different Spitfire in 1996 that Wallis nearly died while taking off at Wānaka. It was a flight in preparation for that year's Warbirds show.
A saying of Sir Tim's still hangs on the wall at the Burwood Spinal Unit in Christchurch Hospital where he spent time recovering from his 1996 crash.
"Don't let what you cannot do stop you from doing what you can do."
In 2016, the main thoroughfare through the commercial part of the new Three Parks subdivision on the outskirts of Wānaka was named after him.
The drive, between Ballantyne Rd and State Highway 84, near Mt Iron, crosses land used in the 1960s by Sir Tim as an airstrip for his venison recovery business.
Sir Tim is survived by his wife, Lady Wallis, and sons Jonathan and Toby.
A commemoration for Sir Tim is planned for the next airshow at Easter.
- additional reporting by Debbie Porteous
