New charge for overseas visitors
A $15 entry charge was introduced for all international visitors to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand from 31 March 2025. Tickets available online or from our Welcome Desk on arrival.
We were sorry to have to charge after being free for so many years, but the charge is required to cover rising costs and to contribute to our new $16 million extension to house the newest members of our collection – our historic Hercules and Orion aircraft.
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Hercules open days
11-15 April 2025
We are delighted to let you know that members of No. 40 Squadron will be our special guests at our Hercules open days from 11- 15 April.
Members of the flight crew and the planning team behind the historic landing of NZ7001 in February will deliver special talks twice a day in our Theatre so you will be able to hear about all the planning and practice that went into preparing our airfield to land the Hercules safely for the final time.
They’ll also be able to answer any curly questions you may have about the Herc – within reason!
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#Extraordinaryaircraft
Help us build a home for our #extraordinaryaircraft
Our Lockheed C-130H (NZ) Hercules and P-3K2 Orion have had long-term preservation work completed so they can be safely stored while we work on plans for a new permanent exhibition space large enough to house them.
Measuring 29.8m from nose to tail, with a wingspan of 40.5m and a tail soaring to just under 11m high, the Hercules is too large for our current exhibition halls. The Orion is almost as tall and even longer – stretching to 36m thanks to its submarine-detecting tail boom.
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Exhibitions
Insights
Caldwell Gallery
From delicate pastel and crayon sketches to the brutality of a crash-damaged German bomber engine, Insights offers a tantalising peek at the breadth and depth of our collection. Like many museums, space constraints mean that only a fraction of our one million or so objects can ever be on display. It is a collection containing stories more than 100 years in the making and a source of endless fascination for the team of people who work to catalogue, conserve and care for it.
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From delicate pastel and crayon sketches to the brutality of a crash-damaged German bomber engine, Insights offers a tantalising peek at the breadth and depth of our collection. Like many museums, space constraints mean that only a fraction of our one million or so objects can ever be on display. It is a collection containing stories more than 100 years in the making and a source of endless fascination for the team of people who work to catalogue, conserve and care for it.
Our Aircraft
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MIGHTY HERCULES: Our new C-130 Hercules exhibition is taking shape ahead of its official launch next week thanks to our fantastic exhibitions and collections team members.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is NZ7006, which you can see here being carefully prepared by our collections technician Murray McGuigan.
NZ7006 is an approximately 1/8th scale wooden model built in the Hobsonville carpenter’s shop for display at the opening of Auckland International Airport in January 1966.
The names of the carpenters are written on the inside of the model. They are Corporal Davis, Corporal Symonds, Leading Aircraftman Dick Graham, Leading Aircraftman McMorran, Leading Aircraftman Parsons and Leading Aircraftman Les Jowers.
The model was originally painted silver and white scheme with tail number NZ7004, which was the next number in the series when the Hercules fleet consisted of three aircraft. In the mid-1990s the model was painted in its current blue/grey/green scheme and had the serial number 01. In the early 2000s the model was given the tail number 06, the next number in the series of the recently retired C-130H fleet.
The Mighty Hercules exhibition will open to the public on 9 April, just ahead of our five open days from 11-15 when its larger stable mate, the very first RNZAF Hercules, NZ7001, will be able to be viewed. The countdown is on!
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Honey, I shrunk the Herc!
I said, hop in
I love this camo - but then Im biased as it was the current scheme when I was on 40
CAN BEARLY WAIT!: What do Elvis, Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin (allegedly), Daniel Craig and No. 75 Squadron mascot Henry B. Fanshaw have in common?
They all have stunt doubles!
We've got the real Henry B Fanshaw, reformed criminal, bear-about-town, raconteur, pilot, hero and kidnap target safely tucked behind glass.
Meanwhile Henry B Fauxshaw - his stunt double - is dealing with requests from adoring fans ahead of his book launch this weekend.
On Saturday the second Fanshaw book - Henry Fanshaw Takes Flight - will be launched by its author Gillian Torckler and Adele Jackson as part of a Fanshaw Fun Day here at the museum.
The book is a first person (or bear) account of the adventures of the RNZAF’s highly decorated and most frequently kidnapped mascot.
The 'bearography' begins in the 1970s and tells the story of the RNZAF’s striker jet capability as well as Henry’s adventures – including being bear-napped and dangled below a helicopter, ending up in Disneyland and losing an eye in Timor-Leste.
Henry Fanshaw Takes Flight follows Gillan and Adele’s earlier collaboration 'My Name is Henry Fanshaw: The true story of New Zealand’s Bomber Squadron'.
We’ve got a ton of fun and activities planned to celebrate Fanshaw and his new book including free hunts, talks and activities tables.
Author Gillian and illustrator Adele will be answering questions and signing copies and there will also be the chance to meet No. 75 Squadron personnel who worked with Henry and the Skyhawks and to learn more about these extraordinary aircraft.
All events are free with the fun starting at 11am and running through until 4.15pm. Henry Fanshaw takes flight is published by Bateman Books and will be on sale from April.
Programme:
11-2pm: Free operation Fanshaw hunts
1.30pm and 3.30pm: Parachute games with real RNZAF parachutes
2pm-3pm: Book Launch: Henry Fanshaw Takes Flight by Gillian Torckler
3.15pm-4.15pm: Meet an A4 Skyhawk avionics technician
3.15pm-4.15pm: Craft tables with postcards, sliding cards, mini parachutes and colouring sheets
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VC WINNER IN THE FAMILY: A young English backpacker dropped in today to see his grandfather’s very special medals which are part of our collection.
Harry Potter is the great-grandson of Squadron Leader Leornard Trent, Victoria Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross and survivor of the Great Escape.
Harry (yes he has heard all of the Harry Potter jokes the universe has to offer!), 22, grew up hearing a lot of stories about his famous Kiwi great-grandfather so he made visiting our museum his priority when he landed in New Zealand this morning.
“We landed from Australia, went to the hotel for breakfast and came straight here. It’s a bit surreal seeing it, I’ve heard a lot of stories about him and learning more about the history of it all is really interesting.
“My grandmother in Norfolk is his daughter – so I’m here for gran. The pictures with the medal are going straight to her!’’
Harry is touring New Zealand with three of his friends after finishing a Business Management degree at Durham University.
His grandfather’s bravery during World War Two is part of RNZAF folklore.
Leonard Trent is one of three RNZAF aviators to be awarded the Commonwealth’s highest bravery award, the Victoria Cross, during War Two. The other two, James Ward and Lloyd Trigg were killed in combat.
He earned the Victoria Cross for outstanding leadership, cool, unflinching courage and devotion to duty.
On 3 May 1943, Nelson-born Leonard led an attack by 11 Lockheed Ventura bombers from No. 487 RAF Squadron on the Hemweg power station in Amsterdam.
The raid was a disaster, with 10 of the Venturas shot down. Of the 48 crew who set off for Amsterdam, 28 died and 12 were taken prisoner, including Leonard.
He was sent to the infamous Stalag Luft III, and took part in the Great Escape on 24 March 1944. He was captured as he exited the tunnel and sent back to captivity.
He continued to serve in the RAF after the war but returned home to New Zealand in retirement. Leonard died in 1986.
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Awesome story, really pleased for the lad to find some information out. Can anyone come asking questions at the museum? My dad was in the RNZAF but the family knows very little about his service. Are there records we can look up?
Welcome to NZ Harry. What a great story and what great service your great grandfather gave, well worthy of being decorated. I stayed in 'Trent Block' in Wigram when training in the RNZAF, the other two blocks were, of course, Trigg Block and Ward Block. A nice nod to our brave kiwi aviators
One of the New Zealanders lost that day was a friend of my parents. When I was born after the War they named me after him.
Memorial in Nelson
I have his personal copy of Venturer Courageous in my collection.
Many records indicate his ashes were scattered at North Shore Crem here in Auckland. However, they rest in peace in Fremantle Cemetery, Australia in the family plot.
He looks like his Great Granddad.
Is the medal in Harry’s hand the actual VC and the one in the group for display? An amazing piece of NZ history!! Did the family gift them or are they on loan? Amazing stuff!
How special for this young lad. Lest we Forget ❤️
What a great story!! So good that he knows the story and is getting some wonderful photos for his gran.
Michael Purvis
Lest we Forget
Respect ❤️
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SLAM DUNK: Here’s a different view of our Bell UH-IH Iroquois.
SLAM LiDAR and Gaussian Splat 3D modelling technology was used to scan the Huey for our records.
The model for the images is NZ3800, a former United States Army Iroquois which rolled off the Bell production line in 1970 and operated in the US, Holland and in Germany where it was a VIP transporter with the 207th aviation company until its retirement in 1994 when US fortces withdrew from Germany after the Cold War thawed. It was gifted to our museum by Uncle Sam and is undergoing maintenance.
Thanks to Daniel Manchester at Proform Group for doing all the scan work!
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