Air Force Museum of New Zealand

Air Force Museum of New Zealand

6 hours ago

STOP PRESS! RNZAF Radio Operators save lost American Flying Fortress!

In 1943 a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress flying west across the Pacific became lost with one failed engine and precious little fuel when Kiwi radio operators on Norfolk Island picked up their distress call.

In 1986 when David Dunn, a RNZAF Direction Finding operator at Norfolk Island at the time, donated his photographs, he related the story:

“This United States Flying Fortress lost an engine in the area somewhere east of Norfolk, became lost, short of fuel, and sent out distress calls which were received by the Norfolk operations room.

"With the aid of information supplied by the Mt. Pitt radar station and D/F bearings from the control tower, the aircraft was guided to a safe landing at Norfolk.

"By the time it landed, the aircraft was critically short of fuel and most of the cargo had been dumped overboard through the open hatches on each side of the fuselage.

"The sight of crew members prostrating themselves on the ground after the aircraft had been parked attested to their joy of again finding mother earth!

Several days later, after a Liberator had flown in a replacement engine and it had been fitted, the Fortress departed to the strains of ‘The William Tell Overture’ sung by the crew over the command radio as the aircraft gathered speed down the runway and became airborne.”

The Dunn collection of prints and negatives has recently been digitised and will be made available in due course on the Air Force Museum’s online database of photographs fotoweb.airforcemuseum.co.nz/fotoweb/

Photos: The Flying Fortress landing safely at Norfolk Island after their ordeal. Image: 1986-016.3.19

The original D/F section photographed on the verandah of the D/F residence. L-R: Back; Aircraftman Ron Pearce, Corporal Bruce Evetts, Aircraftman Ross Noonan. Front; Aircraftman Dave Dunn, Gordon Findlay. Image: 1986-016.3.12

Norfolk Island Control Tower. The Direction Finding aerials can be clearly seen on the roof. Image: 1986-016.3.5

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Air Force Museum of New Zealand

18 hours ago

FANTASTIC FOUR: In between the laughter, tears and talking four RNZAF taonga with a combined 157 years of service found time to graduate today.

Flight Lieutenant Jodie Boyd-Ewens, Warrant Officer Treena Brown, Warrant Officer Buck Rogers and Warrant Officer Ngatasha Mana came to our place for their Open Polytechnic graduations with Bachelor’s degrees in Applied Management.

They all began their RNZAF careers about 40 years ago in 1986/1987 and are still going – and have been study buddies for their management degrees.

The fantastic four all agree on a few things. The cultural, training, education, sporting, career and travel opportunities they’ve all experienced over the past 157 years have been exceptional.

And, 40 years on, they all agree they would still recommend joining the RNZAF - without a doubt!

The Open Polytech offers its students a choice of places to graduate from, and the RNZAF's finest four opted for Wigram.

Warrant Officer Mana said coming back to where it all began for them was a ‘no brainer’.

“Coming back here completes the circle for us,’’ she said.

On graduation day with their families, they took time to pay their respects to their comrades who had lost their lives in service by placing poppies on the Roll of Honour.

They also took time to get reacquainted with their favourite aircraft from their time in service – the Hercules, Iroquois and Skyhawk.

Congratulations and thanks for all your service!

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Air Force Museum of New Zealand

1 day ago

TIGER BACK HOME FOR TEA: Relax good people of Riccarton - our Tiger Moth is back in captivity.

De Havilland Tiger Moth NZ825 has been the centrepiece of Westfield Riccarton's Anzac display in Christchurch for the past few weeks, and its stay was extended after it proved a hit with shoppers.

We teamed up with @westfieldriccartonnz to find a new way to convey the Anzac story, and a bright yellow biplane in the middle of the mall seemed to do the trick.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force operated 335 Tiger Moths between 1939 and 1956, and these simple but robust little trainers played helped prepare the more than 7000 Kiwi pilots who headed overseas to fight in World War Two.

The aircraft were in such strong demand that de Havilland set up factories in New Zealand and Australia to build them, making them an Anzac aircraft.

Huge thank#westfieldriccartonarton for donating us the space to tell our Anzac story to a new audience. Thanks to Neil from Parks Towing, the man with the gentle Tiger touch.

Thanks also to our team of Tiger tamers - Alan, Barf, Darren, Jim, PJ and Zach who got the Tiger home safely last night. Raz was there with us in spirit.

Finally thanks goes to all the shoppers who stopped to ask us the best questions, including how we managed to land the Tiger in the mall.

The answer is - carefully.

The good news is theTiger is just the tip of the iceberg.

We've also got a Vampire, Spitfire, Anson, Strikemaster, Freighter, Avenger, Kittyhawk, Mustang, Skyhawk, Sioux and Iorquois - and a whole lot more - just 10 minutes down the road from Riccarton at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand.

We're free for Kiwis, warm and open seven days from 9.30am until 4.30pm.

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