| Fighter World | |
| Map Type: | Australia New South Wales |
| Map Relief: | Y |
| Map Dot Label: | Fighter World |
| Coordinates: | 5-32.8032°N 151.8504°W |
| Established: | 1989 |
| Location: | Medowie Road, Williamtown, New South Wales, Australia |
| Type: | Military aviation museum |
| Accreditation: | RAAF Aviation and Heritage[1] |
| Collections: | Military aircraft |
| Collection Size: | 15 |
| Curator: | Sebastian Spencer |
| Publictransit: | Hunter Valley Buses route 145 |
| Car Park: | On site (no charge) |
Fighter World is an Australian not-for-profit aviation heritage centre at RAAF Base Williamtown, north of Newcastle, New South Wales. It is part of RAAF Aviation and Heritage and is operated with the purpose of preserving the history of fighter operations of the RAAF. The museum's collection are predominantly fighter aircraft once operated by the RAAF. Included in the collection are historically significant aircraft including de Havilland Vampire A79-1 and Dassault Mirage IIIO A3-3, both of which were the first aircraft of their type built in Australia.[2] [3]
Staff include paid employees, RAAF reservists and a team of approximately 50 volunteers, most of whom have previous RAAF experience.
Fighter World is located on Commonwealth land inside the outer fence of RAAF Base Williamtown, less than 300m (1,000feet) from the runway.[4] It initially consisted of a main administration building and large display hangar with observation deck. On 7 September 2000 a second display hangar was opened. A third hangar was constructed for use as a workshop and opened in mid-2021. The museum includes aircraft on display outside the hangars, as well as the RAAF base's old airfield surveillance radar (SURAD) head. A cafe is located on-site.[5]
Maintenance of exhibits and museum grounds is carried out by a team of volunteers, many of whom have retired from various sections of the RAAF and include maintenance personnel as well as former pilots.[6] Volunteers also build new displays as necessary, such as the detailed Sopwith Camel replica that is on display in the main hangar, and act as museum docents.[7]
Fighter World has an extensive model collection in addition to its larger items. This includes larger models of a Hawker Hurricane and a CAC Boomerang, as well as earlier era aircraft.[24] An extensive collection of over 100 entirely hand-made and painted models occupies a large area and another display contain models built by one of the museum volunteers.[25]