Explore
Summer fun with us
Raining? Too hot? Either way we’ve got you covered!
Pop in today with the kids or grandkids and enjoy exploring New Zealand’s military aviation history with us. There’s plenty for the younger crowd to do with our Pop-Up library space, DropZone and Balloon Busters interactive games, behind-the-scenes tours, Captured! interactive, hunts and our Mosquito Mission simulator. There’s also our café on site.
We’re open each day (except Christmas Day) from 9.30am until 4.30pm and we have a HUGE free carpark. Campervans and caravans welcome!
Plan your visit
Pop in today with the kids or grandkids and enjoy exploring New Zealand’s military aviation history with us. There’s plenty for the younger crowd to do with our Pop-Up library space, DropZone and Balloon Busters interactive games, behind-the-scenes tours, Captured! interactive, hunts and our Mosquito Mission simulator. There’s also our café on site.
We’re open each day (except Christmas Day) from 9.30am until 4.30pm and we have a HUGE free carpark. Campervans and caravans welcome!
New exhibiton: Insights
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.
Find out more
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.
Featured Exhibition
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!
Learn more
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
Explore AircraftMore to explore
Today is International Holocaust Memorial Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January 1945.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest Nazi concentration camp complex.
This photograph from the collection of 486 (NZ) Squadron RAF pilot, Flying Officer Reginald John 'Pony' Atkinson, shows the remains of an unidentified concentration camp in April 1945. The handwritten caption on reverse reads: "What was once a Concentration camp now it lies the way we want to se it. [sic] Rhine. Germany. April 1945."
Image: 2012-405.147
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Thank you for the reminder.
We must never forget
GUESS THE COCKPIT: New week, new tricky competition. Tell us the name of the aircraft this mystery cockpit belongs to, and its manufacturer and you will go in the draw to win an Air Force Museum of New Zealand roundel mug. Put your answers in the comments below or, if you want a confidential service, you can email communications@airforcemuseum.co.nz.
Best of British! (once again, not a clue, just an expression!)
#guessthecockpit #christchurchplanespotter #RNZAF #rnzafpastandpresent ... See MoreSee Less
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Englsh Electric Canberaa
de Havilland Vampire
Canberra
appears to be the Canberra
Canberra
English Electric Canberra
English Electric Canberra
Canberra. Easily recognised by the brake lever and actuating system
English Electric Canberra
English Electric Canberra 😀
Canberra
English electric canberra
English Electric Canberra.
Canberra, manufactured by English Electric.
I'm pretty sure it's the Canberra. I could do with a new mug, one of my kids just dropped my favourite one 🙄😅
Canberra
Vampire
Canberra
Canberra
Toyota Hiace
BAC (English - Electric) Canberra
English Electric Canberra. A84-240.
English Electric Canberra B.Mk.20
English Electric (Government Aircraft factory) Canberra B.Mk.20 A84-240
English Electric Canberra but this is Aussie so it was likely manf by GAF
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Back in 1952, Sally Richardson was a happy nine-year-old, living at RNZAF Station with the other air force kids.
“Wigram was a great place to grow up. I had a pony and we had a tree house and when the wind was right the Harvards would roar in over the fence,’’ she says.
“I used to like going out of the gate and then back in again to get salutes – until dad told me to cut it out.’’
Dad was Group Captain Barry Stratford Nicholl, Station Commander from 1952 until 1954.
Barry was born in Christchurch and trained as a pilot with the RAF in England, serving with coastal command. He returned to serve in the RNZAF as a flying instructor during the war, and his postings included Rotorua, Woodbourne and headquarters in Wellington, as well as Wigram.
Sally’s childhood home can still be seen on the Wigram model.
Welcome home Sally!
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Be neat to compare this with what's there now.
Awesome story! 👍
We love looking at the model and working out what is there now. The Harvards over the fence sounds like a wonderful memory.
YOU CAN’T PARK THERE MATE: Today’s YCPTM features No. 41 Squadron C-47 NZ3544 which ended up overshooting a landing in April 1952 at RNZAF Station Wigram.
An engine failure was the cause of the parking incident.
The aircraft was delivered to the RNZAF in 1945 and served with No. 40 and then No. 41 squadrons at Whenuapai until the parking incident. It was later rebuilt and flew with NAC as a DC-3 passenger aircraft as ‘Koreke’ and later ‘New Plymouth’ until 1970 when it was leased to Polynesian Airlines. It retired in 1973 and now lives at MOTAT in Auckland.
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Help tow it from Auckland airport to motat...started mid night and had to be off the road by 5am....made it buy a couple of minutes
Air Chathams has been running scenic flights in Paraparaumu with its sister ship.