The Classic Flyers Museum is an

aviation museum An aviation museum, air museum, or air and space museum is a museum exhibiting the history and cultural artifacts, artifacts of aviation. In addition to actual, replica or accurate reproduction aircraft, exhibits can include photographs, maps, P ...

located at the

Tauranga Airport Tauranga Airport is an airport serving the city of Tauranga, New Zealand. It is located adjacent to Tauranga Harbour in the suburb of Mount Maunganui, approximately 3 km northeast of Tauranga CBD. The terminal is located to the north o ...

Mount Maunganui Mount Maunganui (, ) is a major residential, commercial and industrial suburb of the Tauranga metropolitan area, located on a peninsula to the north-east of Tauranga's city centre. It was an independent town from Tauranga until the completio ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, owned by a registered New Zealand charitable trust, the ''Bay of Plenty Classic Aircraft Trust''. The museum has a range of flying and static aircraft displays as well as a cafe.

History

The museum was started in 2000 when several local businessmen, who were also aviation enthusiasts, decided to see if an existing

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

-era hangar at the Tauranga Airfield could be renovated for use. The hangar proved to be unsalvageable but the group decided to build a new facility instead and formed the ''Bay of Plenty Classic Aircraft Trust''. The new hangar is at the entrance to the Tauranga Airport, on Jean Batten Drive, Mount Maunganui. The founders decided to focus on creating a flying museum, as opposed to one that just had static displays, with the intention of having a high number of museum aircraft movements. The museum was officially opened on Saturday 28 May 2005 with an air display and fly-past. Inside Classic Flyers Museum

In October 2012, the museum launched the Legacy Jet Centre and celebrated the arrival of an

Aermacchi Aermacchi was an Italian aircraft manufacturer. Formerly known as Aeronautica Macchi, the company was founded in 1912 by Giulio Macchi at Varese in north-western Lombardy as Nieuport-Macchi, to build Nieuport monoplanes under licence for the It ...

aircraft to be restored. In recognition of funding from the Legacy Trust, the main hangar was named "The Legacy Jet Centre". Currently, the museum is spread across three adjacent hangars, the first of which houses the visitor centre, cafe, and most of the museum exhibits, while the other two accommodate the bulk of the classic aircraft in working flying condition. Additional airplanes are on display outside the hangars. One of them is an old

New Zealand National Airways Corporation New Zealand National Airways Corporation, popularly known as NAC, was the national domestic airline of New Zealand from 1947 until 1978 when it amalgamated with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand. The airline was headquartere ...

DH-Heron, which is open to the public, but not in airworthy condition.

Aims

The museum aims are: * Preserve classic and historic aircraft * Support the retention of New Zealand’s aviation history The Trust focuses on preserving aircraft and memorabilia that has a connection to the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

area or New Zealand generally.

Collection

The museum aircraft collection includes: *

Aermacchi MB-339 The Aermacchi MB-339 is a military jet trainer and light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Italian aviation company Aermacchi. The MB-339 was developed during the 1970s in response to an Italian Air Force requirement that sought a re ...

Boeing Stearman The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely kno ...

* Cessna 188 AGwagon *

Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served w ...

(fuselage) * Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk * de Havilland DH 104 Devon C.1 * de Havilland DH 114 Heron *

de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...

* de Havilland DH 112 Venom * Douglas A-4K Skyhawk *

EEL ULF 1 The EEL ULF 1 is a West German high-wing, single-seat, foot-launched, microlift glider that was designed by Dieter Reich. When it was available it was provided in the form of plans by Entwicklung und Erprobung von Leichtflugzeugen (EEL) ( en ...

ultralight glider *

Fletcher FU24 The Fletcher FU-24 is an agricultural aircraft made in New Zealand. One of the first aircraft designed for aerial topdressing, the Fletcher has also been used for other aerial applications as a utility aircraft, and for sky diving. Design and ...

* Grumman TBF-1C Avenger *

Hall Cherokee II The Hall Cherokee II is an American high-wing, single seat glider that was designed by Stan Hall and introduced in 1956 as plans for amateur construction.Said, Bob: ''1983 Sailplane Directory, Soaring Magazine'', pages 8-9. Soaring Society of ...

glider * Hawker Hunter T75 * Hughes 300 *

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

North American F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing So ...

* Pacific Aerospace Corporation CT-4B Airtrainer * Pitts Special S-1C * Schleicher Ka-6CR glider * Slingsby T-45 Swallow glider * Supermarine Spitfire Mk V - replica * Victa Airtourer T-3A * Yakovlev Yak 52

Moreland Collection

The museum also has exhibits on loan from Andy Moreland's Tauwhare Military Museum in a "

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. The ...

Chopper Hangar" that is located behind the main museum building. This collection includes

Unimog The Unimog (, ) is a range of multi-purpose tractors, trucks and lorries that has been produced by Boehringer from 1948 until 1951, and by Daimler Truck (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler AG) since 1951. In the United States and ...

vehicles,

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...

s, uniforms and weapons.

References

External links

The Classic Flyers Museum

The Tauranga City Airshow
{{authority control Aerospace museums in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Tauranga Military and war museums in New Zealand Museums in the Bay of Plenty Region