What's on at Air Force Museum of New Zealand
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Support
Home For Heroes
Join us in building a forever home for New Zealand’s C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orion – icons of service.
For more than half a century, these legendary aircraft carried our nation’s courage across the world – in peace, crisis, and discovery. Now, they need a home worthy of their legacy, where their stories of service, innovation and humanity will continue to inspire.
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Birthday Parties
Mission: Best birthday ever
Zip up a flight suit, grab your dog tags, and dive into a fully hosted birthday “mission”. From air & sea adventures for preschoolers to rescue and cadet challenges for older children. Our Programmes team runs the activities, the children get awesome photo moments (and party bags), and you can add catering through our café.
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Exhibition
The Mighty Hercules
The Mighty Hercules exhibition is on in the Cochrane Gallery upstairs in our atrium. Come and visit and learn all about this extraordinary aircraft.
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Update
Overseas visitor charge
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.
The charge is required to cover rising costs and to contribute to our new $20 million extension to house the newest members of our collection – our historic Hercules and Orion aircraft.
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Our Aircraft
Explore AircraftMore to explore
The pilot who delivered RNZAF Orion NZ4203 back in 1966 was among the first well-wishers at a new exhibition dedicated to the historic aircraft.
Sixty years ago, young Rick Bulger was among the RNZAF pilots selected to travel to the United States to deliver the then brand-new Orions to New Zealand.
Group Captain (retired) Bulger flew Orions for 21 years on countless missions all over the world and has more than 6000 hours on the type. When he retired, he did not want to fly anything else.
Now retired and living in Palmerston North, he travelled to Christchurch for our Tall Tails exhibition dedicated to the Orion and its sister aircraft, the C-130 Hercules.
He was delighted to be reunited with NZ4203.
“It’s a wonderful aircraft and I’m pleased to be supporting the effort to get it on permanent display. There’s nothing like the Orion, I can’t begin to describe how good it was and what a great job it did for so many years.’’
Rick recalls his time on Orions in our film about the aircraft:
youtu.be/IFzp9YtA-2Y
To support our Home forHeroes campaign to build the Orion and the Hercules a new permanent exhibition space got to: airforcemuseum.co.nz/donate/
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JOIN US IN BUILDING A HOME FOR HEROES! Help support our campaign to build a home for our P-3K2 Orion and C-130H Hercules here: airforcemuseum.co.nz/donate/ ... See MoreSee Less
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FLYING LAWRENCE OF ARABIA: It's International Archives Week, so we would like to share a tiny documentary snapshot in time from the archives of the Air Force Museum of New Zealand.
In January 1918, Major Robert Howell arrived in Cairo to act as a Staff Officer with the Royal Flying Corps there. Not long afterwards he found himself flying over the desert from Cairo with a single passenger in a BE.2e aircraft.
The passenger was certainly a VIP.
His name was Thomas Edward Lawrence and to the world he would come to be known as Lawrence of Arabia.
Howell was to transport him to re-join the rebel Arab army at Aqaba, which he famously led against the Ottoman Turks.
In the noisy and windswept aircraft and without radio, communication was impossible.
As was usual, they would communicate on tiny scraps of paper.
Unsure of their location, Howell scribbled a note, while trying to control the aircraft: “Have we passed Nekhel yet? RH”.
He passed it to Lawrence, who replied in neat handwriting: “No. We are almost over El Nahdein, 15 miles W of Nekhel. TEL”.
After the safe arrival, Howell kept the tiny scrap of paper and mounted it in a frame with an inscription and a picture of a BE.2e.
He later moved to New Zealand and served with both the New Zealand army and later the RNZAF and an airfield controller at Harewood.
Later, his collection came to our museum, and thus, this brief, silent conversation with no words with one of the great figures in military history found its way into our collection of taonga.
📸 Portrait of (later Squadron Leader) Robert Hugh Howell. Image: MUS9418335a
📸Message chit exchanged between Squadron Leader R. H. Howell and Colonel T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") when flying a BE.2e over the Sinai Desert between Cairo and Aqaba during the Arab Revolt against the Turks of 1916-1918 during World War One. 1983/479.3
📸TE Lawrence, otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia. Image: Wikimedia Commons. ... See MoreSee Less
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Love how they sign their initials!
I bought, "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" recently. Haven't read it yet.