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.
Learn More
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.
Learn More
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.
Learn More
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
📢🚨WHOOP WHOOP - GET THE KETTLE ON - WINNER ANNOUNCEMENTS!📢🚨: take a bow Denise Fuller and Zealand Lass - winners of this week's mystery aircraft competition.
Denise wins for correctly identifiying the object as the Radar Warning Antenna from our TA-4K Skyhawk. She gets extra kudos for visiting our museum and spotting it!
Zealand Lass wins the most imaginative answer award. She incorrectly identified it as a: "Tactical Avocado: A highly classified, military-grade superfruit deployed by the Air Force to ensure pilots always have fresh guacamole during long-range sorties.''
This was a tough competition with high calibre entries. Honourable mentions go to Don Simms for his comprehensive and authoritative answer, and Kate Luff for referencing Alien, the best movie of all time.
However, we are not made of mugs and only two can be afforded this week.
Denise and Zealand Lass must now email communciations@airforcemuseum.co.nz and we'll sort out delivery of your exclusive Air Force Museum of New Zealand roundel coffee mugs. They're round with roundels.
We'll need your address so we can feed the coordinates into the computer and fire up the Bristol Freighter for a tactical delivery.
Thank you so much for all your entries and support of our museum.
Tougher competition next week. We promise.
#mysteryobject #wedonthaveaclue #impossiblepuzzle ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
MEET THE HEAPS: So where does a retired RNZAF Sergeant take his kids on holiday?
To see an Orion of course!
Back in 2001 young Stephen Heap joined the RNZAF as an aircraft technician and spent a fantastic 16 years working flying all around the world.
After training at Woodbourne, he served in No. 3 Squadron at Ohakea working on Iroquois before getting posted to No. 5 Squadron at Whenuapai – where he met the Orion.
The family were in Christchurch for the holidays and Stephen’s no 1 request was to give his children Zara and Alex a look at the Orion – which they had already heard a lot about!
Stephen loved his air force career.
“I’d recommend the forces to anyone. The friends I made are friends for life.
“It’s always all about the people – it was a lot of fun.’’
Highlights included flying on the Orion all over the world, including Scotland, Malaysia Australia and Texas, where he worked on the Orion upgrade that turned them into P-3K2 aircraft.
These days Stephen lives in Napier and uses his RNZAF engineering skills to look after horticultural equipment.
And the kids say he can fix anything around the house.
Thanks for your service to Aotearoa New Zealand Stephen, and for visiting your museum!
#rnzaf #p3orion ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Gidday Heapy, Stephen Heap so, 6 Sqn doesn't remain in the memory, then, aye ??
Hey kiddos- your Dad is a rockstar human… you guys won the parent jackpot🤗🤙🏽🌺
Classic dad move Stephen Heap 😆🤣
Nice one Heapy didn’t recognise you with a beard.
Those kids will be taller than you soon Heapy! 😮 Looking great you guys!
Good to see you looking good Heapy, true legend.
Top bloke is Stephen Heap enjoy your holiday with family
Lol to the Airforce museum 🤣
Amazing dad and career
Great choice 😀
Awesome
Daniel Swanson get a load of this guy
Nice one!
Nice one beardy boy!!
View more comments
✨Mānawatia a Matariki!✨
Today we celebrate the arrival of Matariki in our skies - which signals the lunar New Year for Māori.
The occasion marks a time for reflection, remembering those who have passed, celebrating the present, and looking ahead to the future.
We're FREE and open as usual from 9.30am until 4.30pm, so come along and commemorate, celebrate and look forward with us.
And, if you're curious about Matariki and navigating with the stars, we've got a volunteer guide on duty today called Kerry who knows all about celestial navigation from his time as a navigator in the RNZAF.
Kerry (seen in his happy place in the Devon dome) is a young man but he pre-dates GPS. He spent his days peering out at the heavens from the top of a De Havilland Devon.
Mā te wā - #Matarikio#freethingstodoinchristchurchoinchristchurch ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Woooopeee