One of New Zealand's biggest aviation museums has finally been completed more than five decades after the project was fist dreamed up.
The Ashburton Aviation Museum's new wing will officially open this weekend, marking the end of a decades-long expansion largely made possible by donations.
The museum's beginnings dated back to the 1970s, when a group of keen aviation enthusiasts came together with an idea to preserve the country's aviation history.
Among them was volunteer Alistair Perkins.
"I don't think anybody that started that meeting could possibly have imagined it would end up like this," Perkins told 1News.
"A lot of work has gone in by a lot of people."
While the museum itself had been open to the public since the '90s, there had long been plans to grow the site.
Building committee chairman Owen Moore said the latest expansion had cost $2.1 million and was largely funded through grants and donations from the Mid Canterbury community.
The museum's home turf of Ashburton Airport also had a rich aviation history of its own.
"This airfield was a training field, of course, in the Second World War days. They trained young Kiwis to fly Tiger Moths here," Moore explained.
The completed museum now housed more than 50 aircraft alongside cockpits, control towers and other pieces of aviation history.
Among its biggest attractions was a former British Royal Air Force Harrier Jump Jet — the only one in the Southern Hemisphere.
"When we get English people turn up here, 'Where the hell did you get that?' is generally the typical response when they walk through the door and see that," Moore said.
Unlike many museums, the aircraft and exhibits were not kept behind ropes, allowing visitors to get up close and interact with the collection.
Visitors could also try their hand at flying, with an ATR simulator among the museum's interactive exhibits.
The new wing would officially open to the public this weekend.
SHARE ME