What's on at Air Force Museum of New Zealand
Latest from the museum
Latest 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
FREE FUN FORECAST! The forecast is terrible but we've got a ton of fun for the holidays with hunts, games and plenty of ways to keep the kids entertained in a warm and FREE entry destination for children.
We've got our brand new Tall Tails Exhibition running, featuring the giant fin and rudder sections off our national heroes - the C-130 Hercules and P-3 Orion.
They can fly a C-130H Hercules through the Drop Zone, try an Aermacchi cockpit for size, pilot our Balloon Busters aircraft, or discover what life was like in a prisoner of war camp in our Captured exhibit.
For just $5 you can go behind-the-scenes to our conservation centre and see the hidden gems in our reserve collection or fly a Mosquito Mission simulator on your choice of dangerous raid.
And for parents or grandparents wanting a breather, our Contact Café team is there to make you a coffee, snack or lunch!
If you’re feeling the petrol pinch, make it a full adventure by taking the bus. Hop on the Hornby bus at the central bus interchange. For full journey planning details visit go.metroinfo.co.nz/, The Air Force Museum is conveniently set up as a destination.
The Air Force Museum is free for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand. There is a $15 charge for international visitors aged over 18 years.
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❓MYSTERY OBJECT COMPETITION❓: Turn down the lights, roll out the dry ice, turn up the Def Leppard soundtrack - it is time for this week's mystery object competition!!
This one comes with a difficulty rating of 10. Once again, is another two-parter:
Part 1: What is it?
Part 2: Which aircraft in the Air Force Museum of New Zealand collection does it belong to?
There will be two prizes, one for the correct answer and one for the most imaginative.
Good luck. You are going to need it.
Muh ha ha ha haa#MysteryObjectbj#wedonthaveacluea#impossiblepuzzleuzzle ... See MoreSee Less
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Pilot helmet. Wigram air force museum
Is this not the bug-eyed monster that Ford Prefect assures Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is indeed green?
Tactical Avocado: A highly classified, military-grade superfruit deployed by the Air Force to ensure pilots always have fresh guacamole during long-range sorties.
Fairing for the forward, right hand quadrant, radar warning antenna on the Kahu Skyhawk NZ6254. Fun fact, the antenna beneath is mounted 45 degrees to the front, not pointing straight ahead as suggested by the fairing. The radar warning system’s official designation was AN/ALR-66(VE). The VE stood for “Version Export” which wasn’t as sensitive or capable as the original version fitted to US aircraft. The US wouldn’t sell us the more capable variant due to our anti-nuclear legislation and withdrawal from ANZUS. However, in the late 1990s we obtained six sets of “high sensitivity” receivers from the RAF which had much improved performance over the original VE system.
Reverse camera🤣
The thingy under the wingy on the Skyhawk
That's definitely one of the eggs from Alien
ECM Antenna from an A4
Leather cricket ball shoved up an exhaust outlet of a mustang.
A lost part
The radar from the Skyhawk
Don Simms. How many of these mugs do you now have?
A 5 SQN chocolate that got softened in the sun after the co pilot tried to sneak it and it hit the left aileron pedal which put the dent in it. Found by Whits Webb the next day
A4 Skyhawk tail skid
One braincell (the only one) from an Avionics Technician, seen under an electron microscope.
That's the Right Hand Quadrant, Radar warning antenna on the outer wing of the Skyhawk 😎
Someone's "knob". Lol.
RWR on a Kahu T/A-4K
Skyhawk (post Kahu) FWD facing RADAR Warning System (RES) Antenna.
Its one of the alien xenomorph eggs that the predators breed for sport, perfectly safe to touch it, would can go wrong?
A4K Radar warning front cover and fairing. Prototype and pressing form developed and made at the RNZAF Woodbroune Skin Bay.
AN/ALR-66(VE) on the A4 skyhawk displayed at the airforce musem of new zealand
Radar Warning Receiver, A-4K Skyhawk
It's a palantir... don't touch it!
Looks like REM26
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📢🚨WHOOP WHOOP - GET THE KETTLE ON - WE HAVE A WINNER!📢🚨: Come on down Tony Stallard - deserved winner of this week's mystery aicraft competition.
The line-up was indeed a Supermarine Seafire, Mitsubishi Zero and a North American Harvard (which was used as a Zero double in the magnificent Pearl Harbour film Tora! Tora! Tora! - but that's another story!)
Tony wins an insanely valuable and sought after Air Force Museum of New Zealand mug - round with roundels!
The Zero (also known as a Zeke) now lives at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It is an A6M3 Zero-sen 22 (3844, unit code 22) and was discovered at Kara in Southern Bougainville in September 1945.
It was flown from Kara to Piva before being shipped to New Zealand aboard the Wahine in October 1945, and given the RNZAF number NZ6000.
The Seafire is another intereting story. It arrived in New Zealand in August 1947 aboard HMS Thesueus.
It belonged to No. 804 Squadron Fleet Air Arm, but the navy opted to leave it behind after it was damaged in a landing accident.
Sadly, the Griffon-powered beauty was broken up for scrap some time in 1952.
The Harvard was one of the 202 trainers which served in the RNZAF from 1941 until 1977.
And yes, the picture was taken at Hobsonville.
The trick was of course the Seafire, but this was no obstacle to many of you.
Back to the drawing board for a trickier competition next week.
Tony Stallard please email communications@airforcemuseum and we will fire up the Freighter and air drop youTony Stallardy S#mysteryaircraftr#RNZAFa#rnzafstationhobsonvilleo#rnzafstationwigramtionwigram ... See MoreSee Less
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Well I learned from this one that not *all* seafires had clipped wingtips. I (foolishly) thought that was an exclusively Seafire mod, and that pointed wingtips meant it's a Spitfire. But apparently I was wrong (That's never happened before) 😳
Be good to get the Zero back to the museum . It was a war prize , be the only one we have to display.
Congratulations Tony Stallard
Always great to have a winner
Looking forward to the next one!
That was a beauty 👌
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