After gracing our skies for five decades, one of the longest serving aircraft in the history of our armed forces has begun its retirement.
Despite being stripped of its wings, the P-3K2 Orion was still able to make a final journey on Thursday.
The fuselage was strapped to a truck and driven more than 400 kilometres, travelling from Woodbourne Air Base near Blenheim to the national Air Force Museum in Christchurch.
It delighted many along the way, who were shocked to see the body of a plane pass by on a public highway.
“Aircraft love to fly, they're not so good on the road, so we've used specialist contractors who are usually moving housing,” joked Darren Hammond, the museum’s collection manager.
“But we don't have a building here on site that's tall enough to match the height of the Orion's tail.”
The Orion becomes the largest aircraft in the museum’s collection. On arrival, it had to put into storage while dismantled: at 36 metres long and more than 10 metres high, it’s currently too big to be put on display.
“We will now be embarking on a fundraising push so that we can construct something so that we can really do it justice, tell its story and get everyone in to see it,” added Hammond.
The Lockheed P-3K2 has earned its rest: the fleet was first commissioned by the RNZAF back in 1967.
Those Orions remained loyal servants for 54 years, and are widely-loved, due to their use in search and rescue operations at sea.
Wellington man Roger Young was one of the many people saved by the planes over the decades.
Young and his friend Geoff Marsland were spotted by an Orion after their yacht ran aground on a reef in the Pacific in 2017.
“I was just lying there in my undies and then the Air Force Orion flew over and it was like, ‘oh my god, we've been saved, we've been found’,” he said today, reflecting on the experience.
“That feeling was just the best feeling ever.”
The museum hopes to inspire the same sort of pride when the aircraft finally goes on display, pending those fundraising efforts to build a hanger.
When the day comes, it will be put back together by aircraft preparation technician Jim Ritchie.
“There are a few man hours here, but for me it's fun stuff,” he said on Thursday.
Rebuilding an aircraft was all about following the instructions, he added.
“There's a fair bit that is, ‘follow your nose’, but to be honest it's all about the books and doing it step it by step.”
The first step was a success, with all the parts now safely tucked away in storage.
The fuselage only just snuck into the facility, with just 50 centimetres of clearance left when the hanger doors closed.
“I think being pampered in a museum collection is going to be a lot easier than flying all over the pacific at a moment's notice,” laughed Hammond, the museum’s collections manager.
That rest well deserved, after a lifetime of hard work.
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