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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
Happy birthday to World War Two pilot Owen Hunter – 100 years young today!
Owen volunteered to join the RNZAF during World War Two, trained at Woodbourne, and was posted to the RAF in Europe in 1944.
He joined No. 485 (NZ) Squadron in 1945 and he flew Spitfires during the final days of the war in Europe from airfields in the Netherlands and Germany. No. 485 Squadron was disbanded in August 1945.
After the war he returned to civilian life as a builder back home in New Zealand before spotting an ad to re-enlist in the RAF. Owen didn’t hesitate, the RAF posted him to Germany and soon he was flying over Europe again.
He served in the RAF for another 40-odd years, flying fighters and any other aircraft he could get his hands on. “I could never get enough of flying,’’ he says.
When his flying days finally ended, he retrained as an RAF air traffic controller before retiring.
Owen grew up on a farm at Church Bay, Banks Peninsula, and the very first aircraft he ever saw was a Vickers Vincent – flying over Lyttelton Harbour.
He is second from the left in the front row of the No. 485 Squadron image from 1945.
Many happy returns Owen, there is a big party planned!
#rnzaf #rsa #485squadron #spitfire #spitfirepilots ... See MoreSee Less
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We did a formal dinner for 485 Sqn. pilots at Ohakea. Sir Tim Wallace was the guest speaker and he flew up in his spitfire. They all went down to the hanger and climbed thru the plane. It was really cool to see.
🫡🫡🫡
CSI HUEY: Thanks to some inside knowledge (via a comment) and some sleuthing our safety and surface supremo Nathan 'Barf' Bosher has uncovered the names of the team who re-painted our Huey 30 years ago.
Take a bow AC P Batchelor, AC M Laursen, AC T Liggett, AC K Shute, AC A Smith, AC L Stockley and SGT P Hartman.
You immortalised your names on the Huey back in 1994, and they still look fresh as a daisy.
Thank you very much!
Barf's been working on the Huey's spruce-up as it celebrates its 55th birthday.
Manufactured by Bell Helicopters in 1970, it started out life with the US Army as 69-15923. It whop-whop-whopped its way around in service until 1994, when it was gifted to the Air Force Museum of New Zealand. Back then the RNZAF’s Iroquois were still in service, so the aircraft was displayed in the paint scheme used at the time by No. 3 Squadron and given the generic serial number ‘NZ3800’ to indicate its status as a type example.
For 30 years the Huey has been part of our team, providing a fantastic teaching and learning platform for our education and public programmes teams.
It is getting some tender care before returning to the flight line.
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Woohoo, great to see our tag is still there.
Is the Huey Sim ever going to be brought out for a look see?
Putting faces to names Barf, 1994 94-3 AC Finishers Course. Project was the ex USA Huey in the Wigram Museum, repainted into RNZAF scheme of the time and serialled NZ3800.
Great helicopter
Who's going to operate NZ38000 when she returns to the flightline?.
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STOP! Before you take off for work today here's a timely safety reminder.
Please remember when closing the hood of your Spitfire (or Corolla) not to grab hold of the jettison release. We are losing too many Spitfire hoods this way!
This note is pasted in the 1943 log book of Johnny Checketts, DSO DFC.
Wing Commander Checketts flew Spitfires with No 485 Squadron and hood safety was clearly something he was keen on remembering#RNZAFr#spitfiretfire ... See MoreSee Less
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Oooh don’t suppose you are able to post up his ops on D Day???
I'm not entirely sure what the writing means. What are the numbers in the pilot column? Perhaps someone could enlighten us.
Can you show the other page with the date and aircraft? He served with a couple of different squadrons in 43.
There it is - you can just see the bottom of a red ball at the top left.
Interesting. That is AB509 indeed flown by mr. Checketts. In scale 1/48 that is on an Xtradecal sheet.
Oops, that will be the fabled 'roof stays on/roof falls off' knob then...
James Sansom
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SOUND THE KLAXON: We have two winners in this week’s mystery airfield competition.
Stephen Grant Cooper and Shaun Butler are the victors.
Stephen wins for naming the airfield – RNZAF Base Ohakea – and Shaun wins for correctly stating that the interesting looking attachment on the front of the Land Rover (known as Little Flick) was used for getting through the crash gates without damaging RNZAF motoring property or personnel.
Stephen and Shaun win an Air Force of New Zealand exclusive limited gold edition roundel mug each – which will be sent out. All you need to do is email communications@airforcemuseum.co.nz and we will get it packaged and in the Bristol Freighter for delivery. For security reasons the code word is Little Flick.
Tim Gorman gets a mention in despatches for his suggestion that the device at the front of the Land Rover was where the Shelly Bay Base Commander was mounted to bark orders from. Imaginative, but not true.
If you need something to put your coffee in and can’t gamble on winning a difficult competition don’t hesitate – get your mug here: airforcemuseum.co.nz/product-category/home-gifts/drinkware/
#rnzafpastandpresent #RNZAF ... See MoreSee Less
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My understanding the hook on the front was for cutting wirer fences, this stopped the wire from wrapping around the cab and windscreen are as they raced through fences in a hurry.