Wigram Airforce Museum

What to do in Christchurch when: the weather is cold, it's raining, you are hosting an international visitor, a member of your family likes planes? I strongly recommend a visit to Wigram Airforce Museum.

The Air Force Museum of New Zealand is the national museum for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and New Zealand military aviation, and stands on the site of the former air base at Wigram, Christchurch. It is FREE to enter and explore. What's more, it is really brought to life by the volonteers who guide on little tours around the site. In my case this volonteer, who was a wee bit older than me, had a lot of experience of aviation, understood NZ's contribution during and between World Wars. He regaled us with anecdotes and explanations. Wandering around on my own would have been much less satisfying. 

There's a marvellous array of planes, engine parts and memorabilia of aviation history, including weapons. Our tour finished with a privileged visit to the workshop where parts of planes are reconditioned and, like magic, eventually become an entire plane (in some cases). The technical skills provided by these elderly men is stupifying.

If they can't find what they want , they make it. I worry what will happen in the near future without younger engineers skilled in this sort of problem-solving coming up through the ranks. They aren't there. 

Our little tour group included a pilot from the US so it was very interesting to see and hear his reactions. He was clearly besotted and felt the museum was world-class.

Our tour started with a freighter. Not a comfy plane inside. We viewed flight training aircraft, bombers, fighters, helicopters. On display is an example of a Sopwith Camel - a biplane associated with 'Snoopy'. 

There was a moment in the tour that was particularly memorable. We came across the exhibit of an old spitfire engine that had been repatriated from France. The story behind it captivated us. Johnny Checketts was a spitfire pilot raised in Invercargill. He found himself engaged in a WW2 dogfight with Germans over rural France. His plane was hit and burst into flames so he had to bail out. French locals found him, tended his wounds and hid him until the Resistance could get him out of France.

In March 2015 an aviation enthusiast found the crash site, guided by a local who had been a teenager and watched the plane crash during the war. The site was excavated, the engine and several engine parts retrieved. Family of Johnny Checketts were contacted. 

Donations meant that the engine could be sent back to New Zealand and housed permanently at Wigram as a reminder of the bravery of those who served in World War 2.

I'll leave you to enjoy photos from the displays we admired. At the end of the tour I purchased a copy of the children's book on the battle for Le Quesnoy in northern France. The village was liberated by New Zealand soldiers and now has a museum dedicated to them as not one resident died during the assault though NZers certainly did. visit https://nzmmtlq.nz/ 

https://airforcemuseum.co.nz/