New Zealand Air Force Museum

November 14^th, 2019

I backtracked a bit into Christchurch to check out the highly rated New Zealand Air Force Museum, and it did not disappoint.  A bit opposite to the Quake museum in that it was a much better, bigger and richer exhibit and it was free! (the Quake was $20) There were a number of different aircraft on display ranging from biplanes to a WWII Spitfire and the American made Grumman torpedo bomber finishing off with a few jet fighters.  Some but not all planes were used by the NZAF over the years.

This was a WWII flight simulator!  Pretty cute.

This is a Spitfire engine that was dug up in France after 70 years!  The Kiwi pilot survived being shot down and thanks to the good memory of a local who was a teenager at the time, they found it.

Spitfire:

A Huey helicopter:

The Grumman torpedo bomber with its fold-able wings.

A searchlight that could beam up to 60,000 feet.  What really surprised me was that it cost about 1/3 that of a fighter plane at the time!

A Dakota that was used in the 50s.  There's a good chance the Queen was on this one on a tour back then.

There was also an exhibit on airmen who became Prisoners of War (POWs), specifically in Europe which was quite good.  Many years ago I read the book “The Great Escape” about an audacious attempt of 240 prisoners escaping through a tunnel.  Only 76 made it out before they were detected but that’s still very impressive.  Only 3 of them made “home runs” (making it back to Allied controlled territory) and sadly 50 of them were executed on Hitler’s order including 3 Kiwi pilots.  Crazy stuff.

The newest POW.

Saw this on my way out...Canada was represented!  This is a Canadian built Beaver.  I flew in one of these on a hiking trip to Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island 10+ years ago.