New charge for overseas visitors
From 31 March 2025 international visitors to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand will be required to buy a $15 ticket.
We’re 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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The Hercules has landed!
The RNZAF's fleet of five Lockheed C-130H Hercules transport aircraft served New Zealand for 60 years. Learn all about the aircraft from the people who flew it in the 1960s, and the final crews who operated the Hercules until its retirement. This film is a tribute to this extraordinary aircraft and to all of those who maintained and operated the mighty Hercules over those years.
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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.
Exhibitions
P-3 Orion
Located upstairs in our Cochrane Gallery, our Orion exhibition traces the origins and service history of the RNZAF’s fleet of maritime aircraft which performed exceptional service for almost 60 years.
The exhibition includes a scale model of the aircraft dating back to 1968, and a 13-minute documentary featuring interviews with pilots and crew, and a yachtie rescued by the aircraft back in 1994.
P-3 Orion: The story of an extraordinary aircraft is not to be missed!
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The exhibition includes a scale model of the aircraft dating back to 1968, and a 13-minute documentary featuring interviews with pilots and crew, and a yachtie rescued by the aircraft back in 1994.
P-3 Orion: The story of an extraordinary aircraft is not to be missed!
Our Aircraft
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DON’T PANIC! The man in the silver suit is our volunteer guide Bob Janek giving a demonstration of life as a crash fire specialist in the RNZAF.
Bob served for 20 years and has a wealth of experience and tales to tell from the frontlines of crash fire teams. Bob Joined up in 1976 and the suit still fits!
His next talks are on Saturday 29 March at 11pm and 1pm.
They are part of our Talking Taonga series, where our guides talk you through our large objects and their memories working with them during their service time in the RNZAF.
TALKING TAONGA: Saturday 29 March, 11am and 1pm. ... See MoreSee Less
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AND THE WINNER IS: Take a bow Warren Houston, winner of this week's guess the cockpit competition.
It was indeed a CT/4B Airtrainer, made right here by New Zealand Aerospace Industries.
The Airtrainer served for 40 years as the RNZAF's primary trainer, and doubled as the stars of dozens of air shows in the RNZAF's Red Checkers aerobatic display team.
The cockpit is from NZ1948, the final Airtrainer built for the RNZAF and a jewel in our collection. It was donated to us by Brian Hare and flew in to Wigram in 2000.
If Warren contacts communications@airforcemuseum.co.nz we will fire up the Bristol Freighter and fly your new Air Force Museum of New Zealand mug out to you.
These coffee mugs are very hot this autumn and you can always buy one for yourself at airforcemuseum.co.#rnzafp#extraordinaryaircraftr#rnzafpastandpresentfpastandpresent ... See MoreSee Less
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Use to sit on top of No 1 offs mess roof during our breakfast break and watch them training and no other airmen had that privilege
Well done Warren, great memory and observation skills!!😀
INVESTIGATION DAY: If you're free why not come along to our place at 10am today to learn how an Air Accident Investigator tackles the job.
Ian McClelland, senior investigator at the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC), will be giving a FREE talk today (Saturday 15 March at 10am) on the challenges of working out what went wrong and ways to prevent history repeating itself.
Ian joined the RNZAF in 1976 and was on the last wings course to fly the Harvard. He has flown a wide range of aircraft in many parts of the world including Singapore, the Sinai and Antarctica. Ian was a member of the Red Checkers aerobatic team for six years, including three years as the leader.
At TAIC Ian has been the lead investigator in more than 50 investigations since 1998.
TAIC is responsible for the independent investigation of significant air, marine and rail accidents and incidents. TAIC’s objective is to identify all the contributory factors in an occurrence and prevent a reoccurrence. It is not to ascribe blame.
WHERE: Air Force Museum of New Zealand 45 Harvard Avenue, Wigram.
WHEN: Saturday 15 March at 10am.
#taic #christchurchnz #rnzafpastandpresent ... See MoreSee Less
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Would be good to see Ian but busy training the next generation of plots, maybe next time. Cheers 😀
Well done Ian. I’m sure your talk will be first class
Luv to hear this talk. But I'm not in Christchurch this weekend.
HERC OF AN UPDATE: Charles has had some minor work done and is now happily tucked up in the hangar ready to reappear in a few weeks’ time.
As you can see, our Lockheed C-130H Hercules has had a little bit of a nose job, the tail fin and an elevator carefully removed so he can fit in his storage hangar.
And even then it was a tight fit!
Don’t worry – his nose will be back on in time for five public open days from 11-15 April.
The work is necessary because Charles is a little too long and tall (but not too chunky) for our existing exhibition and storage spaces. His tail soars11m high – and our current ceiling height is only 9m.
Charles’ nose job and bottom tuck have been carried out this week by our friends at Airbus at Woodbourne, and thanks as always for your help!
A lot of celebrities get work done, so why not Charles?
The Hercules is a Kiwi icon – the ‘ute of the skies.’ The historic 1965 C-130H (NZ) Hercules flew for 60 years and clocked up 33,000 hours flying time and 22,000 take-offs and landings.
NZ7001 was one of five Hercules and is the only C-130H the RNZAF has set aside to be conserved in New Zealand and will be the star – along with our P-3K2 Orion – of a new $16 million exhibition space on our campus.
You can help us build Charles and NZ4203 – our Orion – a new home by donating at airforcemuseum.co.nz/make-a-donation/
If you would like to learn more about the Hercules, have a look at our film: youtu.be/7oi_8I2SaQE
#c130hercules #rnzafpastandpresent #christchurchnz #rnzaf ... See MoreSee Less
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Air Force News Special for 30 years of service - reference to Charles. They had a few nicknames over 60 years!
Pleased to see her under cover and out of the weather 👍
Air Force Museum of New Zealand we are down in Chch at the start of May, will this not be available to view then?
Once again C130s were never known as utes!!!! Truck was the term used as in TRUCKIES RULE THE SKIES!!!!
I assume this is what it feels like for tall people to sleep in a regular sized bed? Got to sleep on a diagonal and a little bit still sticks out? 🤔😅
Good stuff team. Barf’s calculations look like they were spot on!
Just remember it was build at Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia.
That's some close accurate parking....I have a story about moving the Museum's C47 out of 7 hangar in the early days of the museum. I'll save that for future chats about NZ3551.
Curious where are the other four hercs going ?
Does everything come out, (eg avionics) or will this still be a flyable aircraft? thanks
still a bit miffed. did 22 years plus 2 tours on 40 Sqn and never once was it referred to as Charles.....
Ok back in the day the F27 still had its tail sticking out over hanger 5 ? How come 01 fits inside hanger 2 plus why didn’t wigram become a maintenance base , so many unanswered questions .. transparency’s would be nice
first hand worked with these puppies
And I was gonna do a nuisance post that 7001 took off again!
once the RNZAF could have done that work now it's civie contractors
And that my friends is what happens when you play gotcha nose with your best buddy before you both head to different locations 😂😂😂
I thought the guys called them all girls. Fat girls, hanger queens etc....brother was with 40 sqd.
So Charles has done a Michael Jackson - got a nose job.
Not easy job to put inside building!!!!
Should of sent it to motat seen as you can’t fit it!
Brendon Adams have to show Ollie pics so he knows it’s tucked away now haha
Charles LeHerc?
Why wasn't it given a Maori name?
"Woodbourne"?
Why is she a 'Charles'? Are aircraft always female ?
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