One of the world's rarest planes has made its final flight, touching down in a western Victorian town that fundraised for two years to bring it home.

The Australian-made Wirraway was used to train pilots at the Nhill airbase during World War II.

At its peak, there were as many Royal Australian Air Force personnel at the airbase as the population of Nhill.

Today the population of Nhill, which is halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide, is about the same at just 2,000.

The plane is made up of parts from countless discarded Wirraways, and is among the best preserved in the world.

Aircraft engineer Borg Sorensen spent 10 years scouring the country for the parts, and another eight putting the pieces back together.

He found his first Wirraway in Horsham, an hour from Nhill, hacked apart with an axe and spread over five paddocks.

The Wirraway is welcomed by a large crowd at the Nhill Aerodrome. ( ABC TV )

Community funding brings plane home

On Saturday Mr Sorensen flew the historic aircraft for the last time, from Frankston to the Nhill Aerodrome.

"It was the first production-built aeroplane in Australia," Mr Sorensen said.

"I wanted it preserved. I built it to preserve a Wirraway because there are not many left."

The Wirraway was used to train Royal Australian Air Force pilots at the Nhill airbase during World War II. ( Supplied: Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre )

The community met its $300,000 fundraising target just hours before the plane touched down.

Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre president Rob Lynch said the support for the project had been unprecedented.

The project is entirely community funded.

Weeks out from the landing an anonymous donation of $15,000 was received.

It is hoped having the aircraft at the base will help commemorate the men who trained at Nhill and died at war.

"Two years ago this seemed like a pie in the sky. We didn't think we'd be able to do it, but this is a culmination of the generosity of the people of Nhill," Mr Lynch said.

Construction underway at the Royal Australian Air Force Base at Nhill in 1941. ( Supplied: Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre )

Mr Sorensen could have sold his Wirraway for almost twice as much on the international market, but he knew it belonged at Nhill.

"We'd been flying it for 16 years, my son and I, and we started going round doing airshows and then all of a sudden I thought 'That's really not what I built it for'," he said.

"My reason for building it was to preserve it and when they put it to me, would I consider selling it, I thought 'Yes, that will just suit me fine'."

Max Carland flew Wirraways during his training in the air force. ( ABC Western Vic: Jessica Black )

'Amazing to see the thing still working'

Max Carland flew fighter planes in New Guinea in World War II and came of fighting age with the Nhill airbase on his doorstep.

"Most of the people at Nhill joined the air force because there was an air force stationed here," he said.

"Having flown the Wirraway during my training days, it's amazing to see the thing still working."

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But the Wirraway was not without its faults.

"It had a nasty habit of dropping a wing, which is a bit dangerous when down low, but you had to learn how to cope with that," Mr Carland said.

"Another thing it used to do that we didn't like very much was it used to, on starting, sometimes the engine would catch alight, so every time we started a Wirraway engine, we had to have a big fire extinguisher."

Merv Schneider was a radio navigator and trained at the Nhill airbase before he was old enough to serve.

"Our fighter pilots were Wirraway-trained. Being built in Australia, the opportunity of one coming home to Nhill really brings home the significance of the Wirraway."