Auckland Museums Visit

Yesterday my friend Mike and I visited two museums in Auckland to check out their aircraft. The first was the Museum of Transport and Technology. Motat is an amatuer museum that began in the 1960s. They have a good collection of old aircraft, but through the 1970’s and 1980’s they basically became very neglected and decayed.

Motat had a scathing reputation through those decades and it was often suggested the planes should be sold to people who could care for them. Most of its aircraft were left out in the open in Auckland’s sea air till the late 1980’s when a decent hangar was built, which was extended in the 1990’s. A couple are still out in the cold even today.

I had last visited in 1996 when it appeared the tide had turned.
My visit yesterday confirmed this and proved that much had changed in the museum. It now looks really great.

The Lancaster has been fully restored and looks absolutely fantastic. As good as, if not better than those I’ve seen at Duxford and Hendon. It is a credit to the veterans in the Bomber Command Association who took on the job and returned her from the brink to this beautiful state that she’s now in.

The Solent too is superbly restored to her former glory, inside and out, done by the people who used to operate her with TEAL. And around these two aircraft that sit in the main hangar are many smaller ones that have also undergone some loving upgrades since my last visit. The DH89 wears fresh paint in her NAC colours, and the Fox Moth is also freshly painted it seems, as are others.

The Sunderland is at this stage still outdoors but it is frantically being restored and being readied because they are apparently very close to start the next extension to the main hangar, which will finally see the poor old Sundy come indoors.

The DC3 is being repainted right now in beautifully fresh new NAC colours, which is a miraculous difference from last time i saw it where the paint was almost worn off by the elements. We had a look inside too and were pleased by it’s authentic interior.

The interior of the Hudson is also lovely, and hopefully the new hangar may well see to it the Hudson finally gets to have it’s wings back on, having been waiting since it was restored in 1973!

I understand that once the hangar is extended the Mossie will be reassembled too, which will be great.

The Ventura is still looking good but very dusty in the Belfast restoration hangar. But that can be rectified easily enough.

The P40 that was put in to replace Ray Hanna’s one that came out of here looks better than the original did when it was there – but oddly the markings were never finished as it’s missing fin flashes and the centre dot on the roundel. Incidentally Ray’s Corsair was once a resident of Motat too till a nasty court case and fight over ownership saw it sold off to the States. Good resulkt in the end though, having it back here in NZ and flying. Plus thanks to Motat saving it in the first place it has entertained and educated tens of thousands across the world.

Apparently there are plans to restore the Avenger soon, and maybe even the very tired Losdestar which is still out in the elements.

Overall we were both very impressed with the museum’s achievements. I had been there several times in the past and I vaguely recall the days when the Lanc ran its engines. It never will again, but at least it’s safely indoors now.

All the little displays such as photos, artifacts and the many models look very good and really set off the place well. The Fleet Air Arm association’s display is very good, and their Swordfish repilca is looking great too.

Other aircraft in the museum include:
Vampire
Ceres
Agcat
Flying Flea
Slingsby glider of some sort
Auster
Magister
Locheed Electra and a half
Beech 18 aerial mapping plane
A gyrocopter of some sort
Several other homebuilts and wired things, and a few other civvie things that i don’t remember names of

Also we went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum, to take a look at the Spitfire and Zero there. Both were restored in recent years. It’s been about 15 years since i last saw them, and I was very impressed with their presentation now. In fact the whole war section of the museum has improved dramatically with loads of excellent dispalys and collections going right back to the Maori Wars, the Boer War and both World Wars, and up to the present day with UN operations. The presentation of the place is reminiscent of the Imperial War Museum in London (on a smaller scale obviously).

Mike and I were both impressed, me with the improvements made by both museums, and he (being English) with seeing them for the first time. He’s been to many top museums in Britain and the ones in Auckland didn’t disappoint him.

Another interesting thing was that both places were absolutely packed. Yes it was Easter Monday but we were surprised at the number of people checking out the museums, which is great.

So if you’re heading Auckland way, I heartily recommend stopping in at both places.

I shall post some photos when they are developed.:)