The end of an era as a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K Orion wings its way to Christchurch.
A specialist truck normally used to carry houses was used to transport the 10 metre high, 36 metre long fuselage by road. NZ4203 is one of six Orions retired earlier this year, after flying more than 27,000 hours during its 54-year career.
They have been replaced by four Boeing Poseidon aircraft to continue in their airborne surveillance role. The decommissioned Lockheed Orion was disassembled at Marlborough’s Base Woodbourne last month in readiness for its long road trip south to its new home at Wigram's Airforce Museum of New Zealand.
The Museum plans to build a new $20 million exhibition hangar to house the retired national icon, the largest aircraft in its collection.
The convoy is expected to park up and make the road journey to the Airforce Museum overnight, arriving in the early hours of Thursday morning for unloading.
Video supplied by David King, Airforce Museum of New Zealand
By Geoff Sloan
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
