National Museum of Flight - Collections

Collections

The museum collections have expanded into one of the most important in the UK, covering all aspects of aviation including military, civil and recreational. The museum is significant in that it is the only UK national museum still collecting the history of commercial aviation. This resulted in the museum putting their Boeing 707 fuselage section on display from April 2010, with a collection of BOAC crew and passenger artefacts, including a 1960s stewardess uniform.

A list of the aircraft in the collection is available to download from the museum website. The aircraft on display are:

• Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde G-BOAA. This is displayed as "Scotland's Concorde" and is the focus of "The Concorde Experience" which opened on 16 March 2005
• Air and Space 18A (G-BVWK)
• Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.14 (G-ARCX), operated by the Ferranti Flying Unit at Edinburgh Airport
• Avro Anson C.19 (G-APHV), under restoration
• Avro Vulcan B.2A (XM597) which carried out two of the Operation Black Buck missions during the Falklands War
• BAC 1-11 (G-AVMO) in British Airways livery
• Beech 18 (G-ASUG), in Loganair livery
• Blackburn Buccaneer (XT288)
• Boeing 707 (G-APFJ) forward fuselage in BOAC livery, the centrepiece of "The Jet Age" exhibition
• Bristol Beaufighter TF.X (RD220), under restoration
• Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke (9940), under restoration
• British Aerospace Jetstream 31 (G-JSSD)
• Britten-Norman Islander (G-BELF)
• de Havilland Comet 4C (G-BDIX) in Dan-Air livery
• de Havilland Dove (G-ANOV) in Civil Aviation Authority Flying Unit livery.
• de Havilland Dragon (VH-SNB)
• de Havilland Puss Moth (VH-UQB)
• de Havilland Sea Venom (WW145)
• de Havilland Tiger Moth (G-AOEL)
• Druine Turbulent (G-AVPC)
• English Electric Canberra (VX185) forward fuselage
• English Electric Lightning F.2A (XN776)
• Ferranti Phoenix UAV
• General Aircraft Cygnet (G-AGBN), flown twice by Guy Gibson, leader of the Dambusters Raid
• Hawker Siddeley Harrier (XV277), the oldest surviving Harrier
• Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR2 (XV241) forward fuselage
• Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C (G-ARPH) cockpit section
• Hawker Sea Hawk (WF259)
• Ikarus C42 G-SJEN
• Letov S-103 (613677), Czechoslovakian licence-built version of the MiG 15
• McDonnell Douglas Phantom (155848)
• Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket fighter (191659), the fastest aircraft of World War II
• Miles M.18 (G-AHKY)
• Morane-Saulnier MS-505 Criquet (G-BIRW)
• Panavia Tornado F.3 (ZE934)
• Percival Provost (WV493)
• Piper Comanche G-ATOY Myth Too, flown round the world twice by Sheila Scott
• Saunders Roe Skeeter (XL762)
• Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer (G-BBVF)
• SEPECAT Jaguar (XZ119) Katrina Jane
• Spartan Cruiser III (G-ACYK) forward fuselage
• Supermarine Spitfire XVI (TE462)
• Vickers Viscount (G-AMOG), in British European Airways livery

In addition the museum has a large collection of hang-gliders, microlights and sailplanes, but none of these are currently on display.

The rest of the collections, only some of which are on display, include:

• a large number of aero engines (including piston engines, turboprops, turbojets and turbofans)
• aircraft parts (including S.E.5a wings and Sopwith Cuckoo wings)
• avionics (including radars built by Ferranti in Edinburgh, such as the AI.23 AIRPASS and AI.24 Foxhunter)
• uniforms (military and civil)
• medals and decorations
• weapons (including bombs, missiles and cannons)
• models (including a wind tunnel model of the Beardmore W.B.XXVI displayed in the National Museum of Scotland)
• ephemera
• photographs
• documents