A glimpse of the 1920/30s era can be found on the ground and in the sky at Mandeville’s Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre. This isn’t your typical museum – here you won’t find old artefacts locked away behind glass or large barriers. Instead, each of the planes on display are still able to be flown.
Only a short 10-minute drive from Gore, Mandeville is a destination in itself with a great cafe and shopping available, to create a day out when visiting the museum.
Dedicated to preserving and celebrating New Zealand’s light civil aviation heritage, the museum is a nationally significant gem, and well worth a visit. This is your chance to get up close to some of the country’s most important vintage aircraft – and you can even book a flight in some of them.
The display includes the largest selection of de Havilland planes in the Southern Hemisphere, including the Tiger Moth, Fox Moth, and Dragonfly, along with a 1920 replica Pither, Dominie and Aermacchi planes. Additional aircraft are on display in the hangar.
Learn the stories behind New Zealand’s pioneer aviators and their equally colourful machines, the restoration processes and history of New Zealand’s civil aviation heritage.
In February each year the Mandeville airfield hosts the Mandeville Fly In and Steam Festival. This is a celebration of flight and a chance to get up close to vintage aircraft, motorcycles, cars and steam engines in all their glory.
An affordable day for all the family, the festival will transport you to an age of open cockpit flight and steam-powered railway journeys. Vintage bi-planes roll along the airstrip before lifting into flight, while the steam train huffs and puffs into life.
Hours
- Monday to Sunday & Public Holidays: 10:00am - 3:00pm
