History
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 not on display at Hendon stored or displayed by smaller local RAF station museums. On 1 May 1976, the Cosford Aerospace Museum was opened at RAF Cosford, one of the RAF stations which had been used to store the museum's collection of aircraft. Recently opened is the National Cold War Exhibition, adding to the museum's already impressive collection, housing examples of all three of 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. Retired RAF Air Vice-Marshal Peter Dye, took over as Director General on 9 June 2010.
In 1980, the Cosford site agreed to house the British Airways Museum collection, which has now been removed after British Airways withdrew funding.
Read more about this topic: Royal Air Force Museum London
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