The New Zealand Bomber Command Memorial was unveiled at the Auckland War Memorial Museum on 1 March 2009. It honours the 2157 New Zealand airmen who lost their lives while flying with RAF Bomber Command in Europe during the Second World War.
The $100,000 memorial was commissioned from Weta Workshop by the New Zealand Bomber Command Association. It features a bronze statue of the crew of a Lancaster bomber returning from a night operation, set against a background of marble clouds. An enlargement of an RAF Bomber Command badge is mounted on the base.
One of the marble tablets flanking the memorial states that it was unveiled on 8 October 2008. However, a delay was caused by controversy over where it should be located. It eventually found a home near the entrance to the Spitfire Gallery.
See: 'Museum head ignorant of Anzac tradition - vets', NZ Herald, 27/10/2008; 'Bomber veterans get their memorial at last', Auckland City Harbour News, 19/3/2009; Peter J. Wheeler, Kiwis Do Fly: New Zealanders in RAF Bomber Command, Auckland, 2010, p. 242.
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