What's on at Air Force Museum of New Zealand
Latest from the museum
Latest Exhibition
Defence Photographers
This brand-new exhibition features 40 stunning images from the portfolios of our eight New Zealand Defence Force photographers.
The exhibition also features the story of photography as a trade in the RNZAF, which dates back to 1929, and a display of historic cameras taken from our collection.
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Exhibition
Tall Tails
Our Tall Tails exhibition features the mounted tails of the C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orion, this new exhibition brings visitors closer to two extraordinary aircraft and the stories they carry. It also highlights the importance of finding a permanent home for them, as the Museum continues to fundraise through the Home for Heroes project.
Tall Tails is on display in our Thérèse Angelo Wing.
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Exhibition
The Mighty Hercules
The Mighty Hercules exhibition is on in the Cochrane Gallery upstairs in our atrium. Come and visit and learn all about this extraordinary aircraft.
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Support Us
Home for Heroes
Join us in building a forever home for New Zealand’s C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orion – icons of service.
For more than half a century, these legendary aircraft carried our nation’s courage across the world – in peace, crisis, and discovery. Now, they need a home worthy of their legacy, where their stories of service, innovation and humanity will continue to inspire.
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Birthday Parties
Mission: Best birthday ever
Zip up a flight suit, grab your dog tags, and dive into a fully hosted birthday “mission”. From air & sea adventures for preschoolers to rescue and cadet challenges for older children. Our Programmes team runs the activities, the children get awesome photo moments (and party bags), and you can add catering through our café.
Book a birthday party
Our Aircraft
Explore AircraftMore to explore
STRAIT CONQUERED! On this day in 1920 the Canterbury Aviation Company’s chief pilot Captain Euan Dickson, chairman CH Hewlett and mechanic JE Moore made the first successful crossing of Cook Strait in an aircraft.
Captain Dickson and the crew took off from Sockburn in their Avro 504K at 7am, but headwinds forced them to have an unscheduled break in a paddock at Kaikoura.
Undeterred, they set off again, crossed over Blenheim and finally landed at Trentham Racecourse, with a total time elapsed of 4 hours and 40 minutes for the flight.
The Avro carried mail, making it the first air mail flight between the islands.
Euan Dickson was an exceptional pilot by any measure. The British-born Kiwi flew in World War One, completing 175 raids in his De Havilland DH4.
Regarded as the most successful bomber pilot of World War One, he was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross twice, a Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Croix de Guerre medal. He was credited with shooting down 14 enemy aircraft.
Euan died in Auckland in 1980, at the age of 87.
#cookstrait #nzpaf #canterburyaviationcompany ... See MoreSee Less
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Such a shame his name graces one of the biggest criminal Hornby streets of the 80 / 90’s
🚨📢❗GET THE KETTLE ON, WE HAVE A WINNER! 🚨📢❗Take a bow Jen Dabney, winner of our latest Mystery Airfield competition.
It was indeed RNZAF Station Rukuhia - we thought the Waikato fog might have been a giveaway!
These days the perfectly positioned airfield near the Waikato River is the mighty Hamilton International Airport, where the big jet engines roar (to paraphrase Susan Raye's 1971 hit tune).
Well done Jen and to everyone who got it right.
We will fire up the Bristol Freighter and fly your exclusive Air Force Museum of New Zealand roundel mug out to you Jen - you just need to email communications@airforcemuseum.co.nz and give us your details.
We are cooking up a trickier one for next week, stay sharp everyon#mysteryairfieldfi#RNZAFr#HamiltonAirportrp#mysteryairfieldfield ... See MoreSee Less
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Is that the NZ Aero/ Pacific Aerospace hangar in the first picture? I didn't know it was a RNZAF station.
Well done that person.
Congratulations to the winner
ESCAPER’S ARCHIVES: Tony Woodroofe dropped by this week to donate a treasure trove belonging to the RNZAF’s most successfully escape artist.
Tony is the son of Gordon ‘Woody’ Woodroofe, who was awarded the Military Medal for his successful escape from a Stalag VIII B working party in occupied Poland.
Back in August 1944, using false documents and a civilian outfit, Woody made his way to Sweden and then back to Britain.
He was the only New Zealander to successfully escape from a German Prisoner of War (POW) camp and score a ‘home run’ back to Britain, and one of only 34 RAF POWs (out of 10,000) to achieve the same.
Tony says his dad’s success as an escape artist was due to his extroverted nature and sharp brain.
“He was a born actor,'' Tony says. "He had the gift of the gab – he was quick thinking and everyone loved him. He could talk, and talk, and talk.’’
However, Woody’s years as a prisoner came at a price.
Tony remembers his dad suffering from nightmares and having trouble sleeping.
Ironically it was being caught in an American bomb raid while on the run that affected him most.
Woody settled down to farm and raise a family back in New Zealand, and he eventually found his calling as an insurance broker – a job well suited to his people skills.
After he retired and sold his dairy farm near Auckland, Woody was able to dedicate his time to revisiting Europe and meticulously retracing his escape – turning it into Get A Way – his autobiography.
Luckily for us Woody was a dedicated record keeper and so was his sister Tui – who kept all Woody’s letters from his years as a prisoner.
This week Tony flew from Auckland to donate another 12kg – yes 12kg – of papers documenting Woody’s exploits.
The beret and shoes from Woody’s escape outfit are on display in our Horizon to Horizon Gallery.
Woody trained as a teacher before joining the RNZAF for pilot training. He died in 2000, just short of 80 years old, after a long and successful life telling his story.
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Suggest that you edit the piece re the book from 'Get A Way' to 'GeTaWay or 'Getaway' - it makes it easier for Googling details about the book.
Great story 👏
What a treasure trove of information that must be. His book is excellent. One note, he was awarded the Military Medal. He did not 'win' it. It was not a sporting competition.