The P3K2 Orion aircraft has recently retired after a lifetime of patrols and rescue missions, and its final mission was every bit as challenging.
It was the final mission in a 54-year career that clocked up to 27,000 flying hours.
A 300-kilometre journey from Blenheim, down through the Lewis Pass.
"There was one section where it was too big or wide to go across the bridge so it had to ford a stream," Air Force Museum director Brett Marshall told Newshub.
It's just another mission for a plane that earned a proud reputation.
Air Force Museum aircraft technician Jim Ritchie described the aircraft as "something of a hero for the job it's done".
It flew a total of 27,000 hours and performed extraordinary service for the RNZAF and for New Zealand.
"Maritime patrols, protecting our exclusive economic zone, found sailors lost at sea, went up on international deployments - pretty much been everywhere around the world," Marshall explained.
Those deployments include Christchurch, following the earthquakes.
"So many people had been affected by it and owe their lives for it," Ritchie added.
The warfare aircraft is being preserved at the Air Force Museum.
Too big for the World War II-era hangar, the tail will remain detached until funds are raised to build a bigger home.
It's enough to also house a newly retired C-130H Hercules next year.
Until then, the public has just four days to view the big grey beast.
"It's a little bit like an old sports car it's got heaps of power and heaps of grunt," Marshall said.
"It's a pretty awesome engine, puts out just under 5000 horsepower, [and] it's a Detroit Diesel-Allison T56 A-14," Ritchie added.
It's even equipped with high-quality cameras and bubbled windows.
The aircraft has a pencil sharpener on it, and ashtrays - due to being built in the 60s. It also doesn't have a flushing toilet.
The exhibition of the aircraft will run from April 18 to 21 and is free to the public.
