The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) retired the last of its Lockheed P-3K2 Orion maritime patrol aircraft in January. Two aircraft conducted farewell flights over both the North and South Islands, and the pair eventually touched down at Woodbourne near Blenheim on 31 January.
To be brutally honest, these aircraft were geriatric, and truly deserved their retirement. Over their six-decade service, the Orions found hundreds of missing sailors and fishermen, and were often the first assets deployed to disaster zones. The Orions cumulatively achieved 150,000 hours of service.
The fleet was withdrawn five months ahead of schedule, because the RNZAF was suffering staff shortages and maintenance issues.
The RNZAF retired the first of its P-3K2 Orions on 24 September 2021. It had arrived in New Zealand in January 1967, and had flown more than 27,000 hours. Then, on 21 January 2022, the second Orion retired with more than 22,000 flight hours in its logbook. The next to be withdrawn conducted its last flight on 29 July last year.
The retired aircraft are being stored at RNZAF Base Woodbourne in Blenheim. On 11 February 2022, the MoD issued a tender seeking a company to dispose of five Orions, associated support systems and spares. The results of that tender are not known, but one aircraft has been allocated to the Air Force Museum in Christchurch.
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