Kāpiti Aviation Museum. Photo / David Haxton
When you visit various museums there are always one or two standout features.
At the Kāpiti Aviation Museum, in Kāpiti Rd, Paraparaumu, a large wooden aeroplane propeller is the main feature.
It is the original propeller from Will Scotland's biplane, in which he made the first cross-country flight in New Zealand from Invercargill to Gore.
The biplane was imported by him from England and first flown on January 27, 1914, from land on the south side of the Ōtaki River.
The successful flight lasted 20 minutes and covered 152 metres.
The Caudron aircraft was shifted to the South Island, where on February 20, 1914, it made the famous Invercargill to Gore flight, covering 61km in 40 minutes, making it the first cross-country flight in Australasia.
The museum also highlights other items of memorabilia, as well as a historical display board.
The district's aviation association started in 1939 when, on Government orders, an emergency landing strip was built in Paraparaumu.
Minister of Public Works Bob Semple was on site to help with a demonstration of new bulldozers and scrapers that would work on the site.
The airfield, steadily upgraded over the years, was popular with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, which used it as a satellite to the Ohakea Air Base, a reporting point for aircraft crossing Cook Strait, and a fighter station as well as for freight and passenger services.
In the mid-1940s it had the most up-to-date airport control tower in the country.
When Wellington's Rongotai Airport was closed to passenger services in mid-1947 because it didn't meet international standards, an upgrade of Paraparaumu took place.
"The main runway was levelled and sealed, a hard-standing area was sealed and old army buildings were moved in to make a terminal," the museum noted.
National Airways Corporation (NAC) started regular services through Paraparaumu on September 29, 1947.
"Some 1.5 million passengers passed through the makeshift terminal during the 11 years of NAC operations.
"At one time the airport was the largest employer in the district with about 50 pilots and 28 cargo loaders."
One of the highlights was during a royal tour of New Zealand when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip flew into, and out of, Paraparaumu, in January 1954.
NAC moved back to Wellington Airport in July 1959, with Paraparaumu continuing to serve as an alternative for the city airport in times of bad weather until December 23, 1971.
On a more sombre note, outside the museum is a plaque in memory of the two crew and 13 passengers who were killed when one a NAC Lockheed 18 Lodestar crashed into hills about 5km northeast of Waikanae on March 18, 1949, while approaching to land at Paraparaumu Airport during a scheduled flight from Auckland.
"At the time this was the worst civil aviation accident in New Zealand," the plaque states.
And the plaque is also in memory of three children who died when a NAC DC-3 crashed at Kohutuhutu Rd, Raumati Beach, on May 22, 1954, while approaching to land at Paraparaumu during a scheduled flight from Christchurch.
Kāpiti Aviation Museum, next to the former control tower, is open each Sunday from 10am to 4pm.