Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand

Tiger Moth

Look up! Tiger Moth aeroplanes have a key place in the story of aerial topdressing – the technology that revolutionised New Zealand’s agriculture.

When | Āhea

14 Feb 1998 – 13 Mar 2017

Where | Ki hea

Level 4, near Golden Days

Cost | Te utu

Free entry

Ages | TE REANGA

All ages

Accessibility | E wātea ana ki
  • wheelchair accessible

Find out more about accessibility at Te Papa

Tiger Moths have been buzzing about the world’s skies since 1931 and are regarded with special affection by aircraft enthusiasts.

Leisurely paced and stable, but highly manoeuvrable, these two-seaters with their dual controls were the training machines for a whole generation of pilots in times of both peace and war.

By 1945, some 8,500 had been built in various countries, including 345 built as trainers for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) at de Havilland’s New Zealand factory at Rongotai Airport in Wellington.

Since before the war, people had been exploring the use of aircraft in agriculture, particularly for spreading fertiliser, seed, or chemical weedicides and insecticides over large areas of farmland.

A government committee decided that the RNZAF could usefully employ its pilots’ flying skills and its aircraft in topdressing New Zealand’s pastures, as well as defending the nation’s borders.

The Tiger Moth was seen as an ideal plane for the job.

The Tiger Moth – ZK-AJO which was on display at Te Papa, was built as an RNZAF trainer in 1941, and is still flyable. In its spreading days from 1949–56, it flew some 6,000 hours and delivered nearly 28,000 tonnes of fertiliser and grass seed in that time.

Read more about the Tiger Moth on Collections Online

Discover moreKia kitea ake

  • Tiger Moth plane is dismantled on the museum floor

    Bringing down the Tiger Moth

    Thu 16 Mar 2017

    On display since we opened in 1998, our much loved Tiger Moth is about to enter a second retirement.

    News He pānui

  • golden-days-1_tile.jpg

    Golden Days

    Celebrate what makes us Kiwis tick. Junk shop objects come to life as historic moments play onscreen.

    Closed

    14 Feb 1998 – 31 Aug 2017

    Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga

  • Close up of a motorbike in the museum

    Britten Bike

    See the record-breaking Britten V1000 motorbike, designed and built by Kiwi genius John Britten.

    On now

    Long-term display

    Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga

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