Aircraft Museums

[arthur harbrow]

Having just returned from a most enjoyable trip to Brussels air museum, can anyone recommend their favourite aviation museums?British or worldwide.

[vintage ATCO]

Yes, Shuttleworth at Old Warden where the exhibits FLY! :eek: :D

VA

[seacue]

I've visited only a limited number of air museums. Here is my complete list:

First rank-
Duxford, Shuttleworth, RAF Hendon, Air & Space at Le Bourget, USAF Museum at Dayton, Natl Air & Space at Washington [NASM], also the restoration faciility of NASM which is being replaced by the new museum at IAD Dec 2003 and I hope it's as good.

Second rank-
Brussels, air section of Science Museum London, air section of Reichs Museum Munich.

Third rank-
Naval Air Museum Pensacola, Florida.

[Man-on-the-fence]

Ditto that, Shuttleworth is a must see.

Duxford is also good but doesnt quite match the atmosphere.

In Florida, the Reilly Aviation museum at Kissimmee and Fantasy of Flight at Polk City are also very good, completely different in their ethos but both very good.

[treadigraph]

Agree all those above, also Old Rhinebeck in NY State, which is a bit like Shuttleworth on speed...! A few other interesting museums I've been to in the US are Planes of Fame and the Yankee Air Force Museum at Chino (YAF is moving though - or perhaps has), The Hiller Museum at San Francisco (at a small airport a few miles south of SFO), a helicopter museum at Brandywine in PA, and of course the EAA Museum at OSH.

[Sleeve Wing]

Just a couple more, gentlemen, - well worth a mention.
1) The Fleet Air Arm Museum at RNAS Yeovilton.
2) The Army Air Corps Museum at Middle Wallop.

I can recommend them both.

Sleeve. :ok:

[newswatcher]

I particularly liked the Lone Star Museum at Galveston. One of the most impressive exhibits was the Convair B58, so enormous close-up! They have a mixture of static and flying, and put on several displays each year, the next one being November 8-9!

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

As well as the above, Cosford is well worth a visit.

SSD

[Oscar Duece]

Well most people seem to like 'fantasy of fight' in polk city, Florida. But I was most unimpressed. A hanger with a spotless painted floor, housing a dozen or so highly polished aircraft, plus a shorts flying boat outside. That was about it.
No resoration shops open for viewing ala Duxford.

Fleet Air arm at Yeovil is ok, but used to be better. The carrier expereince is great for the kids. But it means you can't look over the planes on the deck at your leisure or in the light.

As for freindly places, I can recommend Elvington in Yorkshire. Was up there on business with a few hours to kill, so popped in for a look round. Found everyone helpful and very imformative.
And not a polished floor or plane in site.

If your in Florida (Thankfully I'm off there for Christmas) The Warbirds museum in Kissemee is the best thing since sliced bread. You get a guided tour on the Hangar and then a look aroung at your leisure. It's full of B25's P51's etc etc, under restoration to fly. If you've got some bucks and the time, you can get a front seat ride in a Harvard next door also. (or even a P51 I'm told if you've got a lotta bucks to spare).

Aircraft are living things, designed and built to fly. Not sit around like prize tarts.:8

[Stan Evil]

I agree with Shaggy. Cosford is the place for the true 'anorak' as it houses a real oddball collection of aircraft - HP115, Avro 707, Bristol 188 to name but a few.

[PaperTiger]

Three of my 'locals':
Seattle Museum of Flight - very good collection, well presented.

Evergreen Museum, McMinnville Oregon - famous for the Spruce Goose of course, which is alone worth the visit. They also have a few warbirds and transports.

Tillamook Oregon. Go just for the ambience. The museum is in one of the surviving blimp hangars, a huge gloomy building. Leave the camera it home though, it's simply too dark. Guppy Strat outside.

[Man-on-the-fence]

Mike

They still do.

Although Kissimmee is more down and dirty (and wonderful for it) as it were FoF is a top place to visit.

[Hen Ddraig]

Canada has a National aviation museum in Ottawa, well worth a visit. They even have a Fox Moth on floats .
There is also the Canadian Warplane Heritage collection at Hamilton, if you can afford it you can get a ride in their Lancaster. They are currently restoring to flying condition a Lysander and a Bolingbroke, when they are finished they have an Anson which they say will only cost about 100k $Cdn to restore to flying condition.
At Sault St Marie there is an excellent float plane museum

Museum of flight at Seattle is superb, but the restoration centre at Paine field, Everett is great. The Comet 4C is slowly being restored, one day it will have to travel down the interstate through Seattle to the museum, that'll be interesting.

There is a nice museum at Pearson field, Vancouver, Washington. Housed in the original US Army Air Force buildings

Tillamook is good, quite a spectacular site. A wooden building capable of holding six airships, with doors 180 ft high. The only time I have ever seen a Martin Mauler.

Nobody has mentioned East Fortune or the Helicopter museum at Weston super mare, both worth a visit.



Time to spare. Go by air.
HD

Just thought of another two

The National Warplane Museum and the National Soaring Museum sit on opposite sides of the airfield at Elmira NY.
A visit could easily be combined with a trip to Old Rhinebeck.

Time to spare. Go by air.

HD

[Mr Proachpoint]

Can't really put these into order because they all had a different appeal but my favourites so far are:
- The RNZAF museum at Wigram
- Champlin Fighter Museum in Mesa(?) Arizona
- PIMA in Phoenix. The bus ride through the AMARC storage/graveyard was a real eye opener for a kiwi boy who had never seen more than a handful of A-4's parked together.

MAPt

[smartman]

If in Oz - try Wangaratta on the edge of Vic/NSW. Not vast or very modern - but a nice little tucked-away gem.

[wub]

Helicopter Museums:

Weston-Super-Mare http://www.helicoptermuseum.co.uk/index.html


Buckeburg Germany
www.hubschraubermuseum.de

[BeauMan]

Can't believe nobody's mentioned the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby yet.

There's something incredibly moving about the night time taxi runs performed by the resident Lancaster NX611; East Kirkby is not so much a museum as a living, breathing time capsule.

[Mark 1]

Has anybody visited the Technisches museum in Berlin lately?
(easily spotted by the DC3 hanging in front of the roof).
I visited last year, but the aviation section was not yet open.
It would be interesting to know what is happening.

As for my vote - a calm summer evening at Old Warden with even the most frail antiques flying is pretty well un-beatable.

[814man]

Last month I visited the Luftwaffe Museum in Berlin. Based at the former RAF Gatow it has an impressive assortment of aircraft and some good indoor displays in the former AAC Hangar as well as the main Station Headquarters. Entrance is free but not easy to find as the old station entrance which leads to the still active part of the base is guarded and you cannot get in this way. To get to the museum you turn off the main road in Gatow village and head off through the woods aiming for one of the old airfield crash gates opposite the tower.
As the visit was mainly an opportunity for me look around a station I used to serve on I did I noticed a few interesting small touches, like the sign on the back of the main station entrance informing everyone to “Save Energy and close the door. By order of Gp Capt, Station Commander.”
Even my old car parking sign was still on the wall outside SHQ, where I fixed it in 1991.

[Rallye Driver]

Another interesting museum is the Midlands Air Museum at Coventry Airport/Baginton.

At weekend during the summer, many of the aircraft are open. It's not many places where you can sit in the cockpit of a Lighning, Phantom, Starfighter or Vulcan - real Top Gun stuff!

Well worth a couple of hours and reasonable entry too.

A visit could also be combined with an Air Atlantique open day, where you can have a tour around the hangars and a flight in one of their Historic Flight aircraft like the DC3, Twin Pin or Prentice.

RD :ok:

[PaperTiger]

Champlin Fighter Museum in Mesa ArizonaI don't know the current status of this one. Most of the WWII warbirds have been sold to someone (rumoured to be Paul Allen) in Seattle, but I can't say whether they have been shipped out yet. The WWI stuff is staying in Mesa AIUI .

[Hen Ddraig]

The Champlin collection is going to the Museum of Flight in Seattle when they finish building their extension.

Time to spare. Go by air.

HD

[innuendo]

If you get to California, an interesting collection of aircraft at:

http://www.elite.net/castle-air/

[CoodaShooda]

smartman
I think the Wangaratta Museum's been sold off by the local council. :{

The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is worth a look and I quite like the Bull Creek Museum in WA (they once let me sit in their Spitfire :p ).

But if you want to get up close and personal with a B-52, you'll have to come to Darwin :D .

[willbav8r]

Yeah, Castle rocks. Even has a Vulcan to add some international flavour.

March AFB at Riverside also has a large spread of outdoor parked goodies.

Museum of Flight in Seattle is also high on the list.

But at the very top, HAS to be Smithsonian Air & Space in DC.

[The Swinging Monkey]

It's got to be NAS Pensacola, witghout a doubt.

Its a long way (NE Florida) but IMHO it is the best aircraft museum in the world!

If you plan on going, then allow at least 2 days to look around it - there is that much to see and take in.

Don't miss it

Kind regards
The Swinging Monkey

[DOC.400]

Another vote for Kermit Weekes 'Fantasy of Flight'. The staff were FANTASTIC and so full of enthusiasm, comes from the top -met KW while we were walking around -really friendly guy and only too happy to talk -but I must say his taste in Hawaiian shirt leaves a lot to be desired!! ;-) The buildings are neat -repro 1930's. Had a great tour backstage and around the restoration workshops. Very, very hot day, but they brought an urn of cold water on a trolley and cups for us -nice touch. Good food in the restuarant and again, really friendly staff.

Saw the Storch fly, not backwards, but close to it. Apparently when Kermit brought it in, he didn't land on the runway but on the apron in front of the hanger. The pilot of the day was the team leader for the US team when 'Scrapheap Challenge' built the flying machines (when the UK won!)

And another favourite is the RNZAF Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand. The hangers are in darkness, just the strobes and interior lights and a manikin with batsman's wands lit up. But as one walks around, infra-red sensors trip and lights go on the exhibits in their various dioramas. A lot of museums could learn from this. It's not big, but quality high!

Popped in to Hendon yesterday. Bit static, but some superb exhibits that one can get close to.

I guess Duxford is also a fave, but the best bit is the OFMC hangers where the planes are being worked on.

DOC

[Nopax,thanx]

If you're ever in Burgundy, the Chateau at Savigny-les-Beaune is definitely worth a visit - although be wary of the lunch break; unless it's changed since I went there, they close for the traditional two hours in the middle of the day!

Anyway, seventy-plus aeroplanes, 500 motorbikes (ALL indoors - how did they get them all up the stairs?!?!?) Abarth museum (Racing cars) Wine cellar and the Chateau grounds all in one place. Even Mrs.Nopax enjoyed it!

[arthur harbrow]

Thanks for all the replies, hopefully i will be able to visit some of your suggested museums.
Nopax, that sounds an interesting one, i do not think i have heard of that one.

[White Bear]

For those of you brave enough to visit the heart land of America, the SAC Museum just west of Omaha is worth while. B36, B47, B52, SR71, B58, TR1, even the Martin version of the Canberra, (B57?)and to keep it company a Vulcan! Much more, including many missiles, but I can't remember it all. They say it has one example of every aircraft that SAC flew. Everything inside in a new facility. For those into cold war stuff, it'll be memorable, even is Omaha isn't!.
W.B.

[Nopax,thanx]

Arthur, some photos here...

http://www.paulnann.com/location/SavignylesBeaune.htm

Not my work I hasten to add!

and here's the Chateau's website;

http://www.chateau-savigny.com/

They do accommodation!

[Iron City]

Don't know how good it still is or even if you can get in but there was a museum at Sandia Base in Albuquerque New Mexico with all kinds of atomic bombs (not the HE or fissionable stuff of course). Also a B-52 with weapons bays open and available for "up close and personal" look see.

[zalt]

Iron City it moved offbase in 2002 but with only smaller exhibits.

[LOMCEVAK]

The Swedish Air Force museum on the edge of the military airfield just west of Linkoping (about 200 km south of Stockholm) is well worth a visit. Some rare German and Italian aircraft from the '30s and 40's as well as the indiginous SAAB products. It is on the tourist maps of Linkoping but watch the opening hours.

[I have control]

The EAA Museum in Oshkosh is the greatest aviation museum in the entire universe :D

www.airventuremuseum.org

[country calls]

The USAF armaments museum at Eglin AFB in Florida is worth a visit. Outside they have an SR71, an AC130, a yankee doodle canberra (B57), and lots of other interesting 'mud moving' aircraft. Inside as might be expected, is everything from a WW1 Mills bomb to the latest JDAM, and other stuff deployed quite recently in the middle east. It also features an illuminating display on Vietnam MIAs

Interestingly, they have what from a distance appears to be a V1 Doodle bug suspended from the gallery. However, it is painted yellow with USAF stars on. The description plate states that it is in fact a pulse jet weapon built by the Ford Motor Company in 1941! I have been up close to a V1, and it is exactly the same bit of kit. Now either Uncle Sam is to blame for selling the technology/weapon to the Germans and allowing them to terrorise the South of England, or this is extreme wishful thinking on the part of our American cousins.

That aside, this is a cracking showpiece of American Hardware and well worth a visit if you should find yourself in the north west of Florida.

[seafuryfan]

Tangmere Aviation Museum, at (funnily enough) Tangmere village, near Chichester, UK.

A museum heavily into personal recollections and memorabilia related to the airfield, and the people and planes who were based there.

In more recent years it's expanded to display a small number of well presented airframes, both real and replica. Still retains that 'personal' feel though.

[chuks]

I recently visited the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The town is located on the north shore of Lake Constance (the Bodensee), very close to the Swiss border.

The museum features a reconstruction of a section of the Hindenburg, including an airstair that you climb to enter a lounge, with access to the sleeping quarters. It's rather plain, but I guess that was how it was built to keep it light.

In another part of the reconstruction you can get a close look at the details of the way the structure was made, along with how the skin was attached. The amount of work that went into those ships was staggering.

Then there are exhibits covering the history of the development of the airship, a Maybach automobile (Maybach developed many of the engines for the various zeppelins), lots of mementoes of Count von Zeppelin and his many associates, such as Maybach, Dornier, Eckener, etc. There are various bits from scrapped airships, including some British ones, so that you can see the design evolution, to a limited extent.

In another section of the museum there is an art gallery with some interesting paintings and sculptures.

There is a fairly comprehensive section on the military uses of the airship, including some beautiful models.

There are audio guides available for non-German speaking visitors and many exhibits have bi-ligual captions. There is also a restaurant and a gift shop with some interesting books, toys and paper models.

It is also possible to book rides on the Zeppelin NT. I have no idea what that costs. As we were eating our lunch the very ship came by the windows of the restaurant! My wife couldn't believe what she was seeing. It appeared to be much bigger than that British design I used to see flying in Fuji colours over some parts of Germany in the summertime.

The town itself looks rather prosperous but some of the other nearby towns have much more Olde Worlde charm, if you go for that sort of thing...

I would rate it as definitely worth a trip if you have a lot of interest in airships.

Oddly enough, the rights to distribute Caterpillar equipment in Germany belong to the Zeppelin foundation. The two extremes in terms of weight, I suppose?

[Philthy]

An aviation museum without any aircraft?

The Airways Museum, Essendon Airport, Melbourne, Australia, is well worth a visit. The Museum focuses on the ground-based airways infrastructure of aviation - air traffic control, navigation aids, airports.

Have a look at the website - www.airwaysmuseum.com (http://www.airwaysmuseum.com) There's much more of interest on this site too!