Tim Wallis

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Tim Wallis was born in Greymouth, on the West Coast and attended Christ College

His father was in the timber industry.

Pioneer of the live deer recovery industry in New Zealand's South Island, Wallis built an aviation empire around helicopter operations, pulling valuable animals out of the rugged high country. For many years he held monopoly over the rights to commercial hunting in Fiordland National Park. Moving into deer farming during the 1970's, he was among the first to see the potential of the industry in New Zealand and his farm, Criffel, became a centre of excellence for high quality genetics and served as a model for many other farmers. Wallis forged trade relationships in Russia, Korea and Hong Kong that saw exports of velvet, antler, pizzle and even live deer to Asia.

The book Winging it documents the life of Wallis.

Wallis is the Founder of the Alpine Fighter Collection and the New Zealand Fighter Pilots' Museum. He also started the Warbirds over Wanaka airshow in 1988.

Wallis is a strong supporter of the New Zealand National Party.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 for services to deer farming, export and the community.

Sir Tim was seriously injured in a helicopter accident in 1968 but managed to continue his flying career until a crash of his historic Supermarine Spitfire aircraft in 1996 left him medically unfit to fly.