Royal Air Force Museum Midlands

Avro Lancaster R5868 in the main hangar of the RAF Museum London.

Supermarine Walrus.

Bristol Blenheim bomber

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka

The Royal Air Force Museum (RAF Museum) is a museum dedicated to the history of aviation, and the British Royal Air Force in particular. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and a registered charity.

The museum is spread over two sites in England;

• The RAF Museum London at Colindale (near Hendon) in north London
• The RAF Museum Cosford at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, 5 miles northwest of Wolverhampton

The museum was officially opened at the Colindale (then part of Hendon) London site on 15 November 1972 by Her Majesty The Queen. The hangars housed just 36 aircraft at opening. Over the years, the collection increased and aircraft were stored at RAF stations around the country when they were not on display. While they were being so stored, these aircraft were not publicly displayed.

On 1 May 1979, the Cosford site was opened at RAF Cosford, one of the RAF stations which had been used to store the museum's collection of aircraft. In 1980, the Cosford site agreed to house the British Airways Museum collection, which has now been removed after British Airways withdrew funding. Recently opened is the National Cold War Exhibition. This addition to the museum's already impressive collection houses the V bombers and other Cold War aircraft, many of which are hung from the Hangar roof. The first Director of the Museum was Dr John Tanner who retired in 1987. In 1988 Dr Michael A Fopp (who had previously directed the London Transport Museum) was appointed and is currently Director General of all three sites covered by the Museum.

London site

The Royal Air Force Museum London comprises 5 exhibition halls,

• Milestones of Flight
• The Bomber Hall
• Historic Hangars
• The Battle of Britain Hall
• The Grahame-White Factory

As of 2005, it has over 130 aircraft. These aircraft include one of only two surviving Vickers Wellingtons left in the world and the Avro Lancaster S-Sugar, which flew 137 sorties. It also includes the only complete Hawker Typhoon and the only Boulton Paul Defiant in the world.

Recently added to the museum is a B-24 Liberator, which was moved to Hendon from Cosford. The aircraft was originally presented to the Museum by the Indian Air Force. In exchange, a Vickers Valiant was sent to Cosford to take part in the upcoming Cold War exhibition. Most recently in July 2009, the Royal Air Force Museum took delivery of a FE2b World War 1 bomber, which had been in production for the museum for over 18 years. It was unveiled to the public on 1 July 2009 and became one of the few examples of this aircraft in the world.

There is a large free car park at the site, and reasonable public transport links, with Colindale tube station around a 10 minute walk away.

A new light-rail station next to the museum was proposed in early 2008, when the London Group of the Campaign for Better Transport (UK) published a plan for a North and West London Light railway (NWLLR), as part of an orbital light railway across north London. The museum is located in the Colindale Area Action Plan area, which is being proposed by the London Borough of Barnet for high-density redevelopment, although the museum would not be directly affected. Public consultation meetings on the plan have been held in the museum.

As of April 2009, work began on The Battle of Britain Hall to improve lighting conditions and provide full re-cladding to the exterior of the building. This new form of energy-saving lighting can change colour and light intensity whilst still being cheaper to run and as it is kinder to the exhibits, because it doesn't give out any UV light, light intensity can be increased between each "Our Finest Hour" showing. The hall is also set to benefit from a new glass fascia overlooking the Sunderland aircraft making it viewable from outside and also providing natural daylight throughout the Sunderland Hall, a section within the Battle of Britain building. Works were completed in August 2009.

Cosford site

Cosford RAF Museum

The museum at Cosford opened on 1 May 1979, initially exhibiting airframes which had been used for technical training at RAF Cosford. In the following years additional aircraft were added to the collection and in 1980 it was agreed that the British Airways Collection be displayed at Cosford. On 21 June 1998 four additional galleries were opened, housing art, temporary exhibitions and other aviation subjects. 13 May 2002 saw the relocation of the RAF's Conservation Centre from Cardington, Bedfordshire to Cosford. The Centre was opened by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham and it is named after him.

The Cosford site includes several developmental aircraft such as those that led to the English Electric Lightning and the second prototype of the BAC TSR-2.

In 2006 British Airways (BA) ceased to finance the BA Collection, after which the RAF Museum did not take on the costs of maintaining the aircraft. Several of the jet airliners have subsequently been broken up, including the only Boeing 707 that was preserved in the UK, a Vickers VC-10 and a Hawker Siddeley Trident.

The site can be reached by public transport via the neighbouring Cosford railway station on the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line.

External links

• RAF Museum website
• RAF Museum Photo website
• Royal Air Force website
• Photo galleries of aircraft at the RAF Museum and a virtual tour of RAF Cosford
• The National Cold War Exhibition
• Pictures of RAF Museum Hendon