The Christian not-for-profit, humanitarian group flew in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, the Americas and Europe and partnered with about 1500 other aid and development agencies, missions and churches, but somehow stayed under the radar.
''Someone said to me we're one of the forgotten missions,'' Mr Woodward said. ''For example, at the end of last year in South Sudan, all the other missions ... because of the conflicts that arose, they [other humanitarian organisations] said we've got to evacuate our people. They didn't say who flew them out - that was MAF.''
MAF had about 130 planes and landed in about 1500, often isolated, locations, but yesterday afternoon Blenheim-based pilot John Neal flew a Cessna 206 trainer - restored and repainted at a workshop in Mareeba, an hour inland from Cairns, two years ago - into Oamaru Airport to raise awareness of the programme.
''This airplane would not have known an airfield as flash as Oamaru,'' he said.
The retired mission plane once flew in Cambodia and Northern Australia, but Mr Neal now assessed several potential Kiwi pilots a year and toured the plane ''just to let people see what a mission plane looks like''.
''OK, I love to fly, but over there it's life or death.''
Mr Woodward said the ''huge amount of humanitarian work'' MAF did included more than 7000 medical evacuations in East Timor since the organisation first started working there.
In Papua New Guinea, the group did ''well over 500 medical evacuations per year''.
''We can get a seriously ill or injured person from a strip in the highlands to a hospital in perhaps an hour, at the outside, where to go through the bush in [Papua New Guinea] would take six to eight days.''
While the group did take the Christian faith to the areas it visited, it did not restrict those it helped along faith-based lines.
''We don't care who we're evacuating. If they need help, we do it.''
