What's on at Air Force Museum of New Zealand
Latest from the museum
New Exhibition
Victory!
This year marks 80 years since the end of the Second World War.
A new exhibition, called Victory, marks this significant milestone in world history, and the story of the RNZAF.
Victory includes images and memories of Victory in Europe (VE) Day which have been sourced from photographs, letters, postcards and personal histories in our collection.
Victory includes insights into how Kiwis celebrated, and how they felt.
Many found it difficult to rejoice after so much loss and suffering. While it was a day to celebrate, there was still a war in the Pacific to fight.
You’re welcome to come along and learn all about VE Day with us. The exhibition is on in our upstairs balcony in the atrium.
New Exhibition
The Mighty Hercules
We are delighted to let you know that our latest exhibition, the Mighty Hercules, is now open. Come and visit and learn all about this extraordinary aircraft.
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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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Update
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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Our Aircraft
Explore AircraftMore to explore
TRIPLE URGENT CLARIFICATION: We’ve become aware of isolated patches of confusion out there about the differences between the RNZAF’s golden McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, its golden Ford Falcon and Auric Goldfinger.
This is hardly surprising because all three are charismatic, potentially lethal and of a golden hue.
So, before this trickle turns into an atmospheric river of confusion, we’re stepping in to clear up any lingering doubts with a handy guide to help you tell these golden triplets apart at a glance.
First of all, to be clear, Auric Goldfinger is a very short and sinister Bond Villain, which makes him reasonably easy to differentiate in a line up. A SMERSH Soviet counterintelligence agent, his fondness for gold even extends to his golden tan.
While he is roughly the height of a golden Ford Falcon, Auric is not as wide as a Falcon, and he is much shorter than a golden TA-4K Skyhawk.
Which leads us nicely to the differences between a golden Falcon and a golden Skyhawk – not an easy task for inexperienced spotters.
Arguably, the most obvious difference is the absence of a refuelling probe on the Ford Falcon, which is easy to spot on the TA-4K Skyhawk. A refuelling probe may have come in handy in the case of the Ford, with the golden Falcon’s 4.1 litre inline six-cylinder engine being a thirsty beast.
The other key difference is the windscreen wiper configuration on the golden Falcon, with wipers to the left and right. The Skyhawk lacked windscreen wipers, because awesome machines like the golden TA-4K are faster than water vapour.
Finally, an easy way to tell them apart is the golden Skyhawk came with hard points for ordnance which the RNZAF utilised. The golden Falcon could have a roof rack fitted for roof ordnance, but this option was not taken up as our photo shows.
We hope this clears the confusion up.
You’re welcome.
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Astute observers will note that Goldfinger also lacks a refuelling probe, an oversight that appears to be causing him some displeasure when facing an opportunity to top up.
You forgot to mention the difference between the sounds they make, easily overlooked as Auric and the falcon almost sound the same if at the time Auric was being sucked out the window of his private jet 🛩️ The Skyhawks has a very different sound
"atmospheric river of confusion" 🤣🤣🤣
Peter Turvey was this yours?
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GO WHARENUI! More than 5000 students visit our museum each year and we wish to make it clear that we have no favourites when it comes to the schools who drop in.
However, when a school enjoys their visit so much they take time to make a video, and then send it to us, we have to make an exception and say that Wharenui is officially our SCHOOL OF THE WEEK (so far!).
Great tamariki, amazing teachers and parent helpers, we all had a learning day and New Zealand history wins!
If you're a school and you'd like to see your students look as happy as these, get in touch at education@airforcemuseum.co.nz.
Our Education Officer Chris Davey can tailor lessons to meet your curriculum and we've got the best classroom in the world (in our opinion) as well as a large aircraft collection, cafe (for teacher revival services) and free#wharenuischool#wharenuischool ... See MoreSee Less
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MOMENT IN TIME: We know exactly what you're thinking - why are women's RNZAF issue leather gloves only $27 when brown leather gloves are $34.10?
And where can I still get a PT shirt for $7.80?
Part of the beauty of working in a museum at a former RNZAF base is that we get to work in what is effectively a snapshot in time.
Feast your eyes on RNZAF Base Wigram's Tailor's Shop prices list, circa 1995.
The base may be closed but its signs live on, a#rnzaf #wigrame#wigramskies#wigram #wigramskies ... See MoreSee Less
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Didn't 'beagle aka Mr Smart' try to buy some of that stuff when he was posted there around 1981? lol
my first base, woke up to Harvards, BF's (flying rivets), Devon's and recruit barracks a shock or so many
With so many recruit courses put through Wigram, it would have been the RNZAFs busiest Taylor Shop. Yes, the leather gloves were only issued to Officers and Warrant Officers, mainly for ceremonial purposes. ORs only got woolen gloves in exceptional circumstances. My favorite gloves were those issued by US Antartica Research Program for Antarctica deployments. Great back home especially when I was a Helicopter Crewman. Still got my light weight raincoat.
I can still remember going there on recruit cse for fitting of uniforms. Inside leg measurements taken etc.
The prices are surprising. How was the simple lightweight raincoat so expensive? I also had no idea that leather gloves were available. I don't think I ever saw any. Were they for officer's only? I lived at Wigram for two and a half years, and I never realised it had a tailor's shop. I cannot actually recall ever needing to go to the clothing store in all that time, to be honest. Those suppliers running that place must have had a cushy job.
The duffel bags and belts were awesome.. the towels not so much.
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