Aviation museums

[camperdown9]

I grew up very close to RAF Cosford in the UK, so always have a soft spot for that one

I haven't been to RAF Cosford yet but I did visit RAF Museum London ( at Hendon). Its easy to get to from central London by tube or bus. There are a number of hangers and I could of spent a full day there.

 

[offshore171]

A bit of a lesser known option:

The Zeppelin Museum at Friedrichshafen, Lake Constance, Germany

We visited a few years back, and subsequently went for a flight in a modern day zeppelin.

Some photos in this thread.
There’s only 1 Lake Como. Plus Zeppelins, plus F-18’s!

 

[camperdown9]

Another one worth a visit is Cite de Train, Mulhouse. I think its France's largest Railway museum. From memory there are two or three buildings and then a few trains parked outside. Large site, most of the descriptions are in French. We visited on a weekday in August and it really wasn't busy which was kind of sad. The French have made lots of unique styles of rolling stock over the years.

And of course The National Railway Museum in York, UK. They do what most UK museums don't in that they mange to be both child and grown up focused. (personal opinion in the UK transport museums can either be like sheds with lots of things to read. Which is maybe not the best for kids. Or they can be so child friendly that grown ups don't really learn anything)

Honorable Mention
-Ulster Transport Museum, Near Belfast - The Folk and Transport Museums (two museums connected by a bridge over a main road) have been there for years. When I lived in Belfast in the 1980's its was a school trip destination. A few months ago on a visit to Northern Ireland I spent half a day at the Transport Museum. The railway section takes up one hall and explains the history of railways in Ireland. The bus and tram section was ok, not as good as the railway exhibition and the rest of the museum (deLorean sports cars, dunlop tyres, motorbikes etc) not so.

Alex

 

[trooper]

I find aircraft that are ONLY set up for ground display a bit...depressing. The outside displays at the USAF Museum were particularly shabby when I was there...YMMV of course. SO..my favourites are the places where many (or most) are actually airworthy. In my backyard (as it were) is of course the Temora Aviation Musuem..and its "Air days" Similarly the Chino Planes of Fame Musuem in Chino CA......where else can you talk to folks doing maintenance on an airworthy P-38? The Shuttleworth collection is definitely on the Bucket List..as is a visit to "Warbirds over Wanaka" On a different note, the California State Railway Museum in Sacramento is very good... especially having arrived on AMTRAK from Chicago! lol

 

[nathrek]

Pima Air and Space museum in Arizona captured my interest way more than I expected it to. We were there for ages despite the heat (was mid 40s) because there was such a variety of cool and unique aircraft (about 350 all up I think). The inside exhibits are put together really well + being able to walk around outside right up and under so many classic planes in the graveyard is fantastic.

Great mix of early aviation, commercial, military and space from all over the world, not just the USA.

Home - Pima Air & Space

Experience 400 iconic aircraft, from a Wright Flyer to a 787 Dreamliner. Plan a visit today to explore our 6 hangars & 80 acre airfield of aviation history.

pimaair.org

Highlights

• Super guppy
• F-117 Nighthawk
• Boeing B52s
• RA-5C
• F-14
• SR-71
• Harrier Jump Jet
• Heaps of weird looking choppers

 

[Lizzi]

I loved the Speyer/Sinsheim Technik Museums in Germany. The Concorde, Tupolev, Antonov and space shuttle were amazing!

 

[Telemachus]

There are some great recommendations in this thread for aviation museums (particularly in the US) I have yet to visit.

Favourites are of course subjective but I second others’ comments about museums which host flying days. In the UK I recommend the RAF Cosford annual airshow (can remember the Vulcan's final flight there in 2015) as well as the permanent hangar exhibits. The flying days at IWM Duxford can provide an amazing experience, though I have happily spent a whole day at Duxford 'just' doing the static exhibits: it's only a short distance from Cambridge. I visited the Shuttleworth Collection at Biggleswade a long time ago but have yet to get there for an airshow so that is on my list and will influence dates of travel to UK in 2023.

 

[ausfox]

I've done both, and USAF Museum beats the pants off the Udvar-Hazy Center. They are both very good, but the USAF Museum is at least 4x the size and has way more aircraft, and so many rare aircraft (ie, the Valkyrie and the B-2 spirit). It has the Bockscar, the sister aircraft of the Enola Gay that dropped the other bomb.

In an ideal world see both - but if you can only see one - it's got to be the USAF Museum.

I have done both and despite being ex airforce I still think the Smithsonian campuses are better. In the eye of the beholder isn't it.

 

[drron]

In our own back yard Scone in the Hunter valley has a pretty good collection many of which can be flown.

Hunter Warbirds — Aircraft Collection

Hunter Warbirds displays a significant collection of Warbird aircraft from Col Pay’s private collection, Hunter Fighter Collection Incorporated and private owners.

www.hunterwarbirds.com.au

In the States I found this one really interesting.

Glenn Curtiss Museum Exhibits

glennhcurtissmuseum.org

Glen Curtiss began manufacturing motorcycles before switching to aircraft. Quite a few famous models - with a few at Scone in working order.
What got me is that I was in luck as the day I picked to visit there was a fly in by many old Curtiss seaplanes. Quite an amazing show. It is an annual event held in September.

It is not far from the Corning Museum of Glass.

 

[justinbrett]

I have done both and despite being ex airforce I still think the Smithsonian campuses are better. In the eye of the beholder isn't it.

Also caveat I haven't been to the Smithsonian on the mall since the update. I was not impressed the first time. I did like Udvar-Hazy very much, I have been on several occasions (first time I went they had Enterprise, second they had switched it for Discovery).

I'd say USAF Museum is objectively better for military aircraft - I believe it is the largest military aviation museum in the world. But it doesn't have civilian aircraft, so if that's what you're after that will sway it. Both have space - Smithsonian has an operational shuttle, USAF Museum only has a coughpit trainer, that said you can look inside and see what the real coughpit looks like. And USAF Museum has a full suite of ICBMs. Really the best place to go if you want to look at space exhibits is Kennedy Space Centre which wins hands down in that category.

Based on military aircraft there is simply no comparison. The self declared highlights for Udvar-Hazy is SR-71, Stratofortress (Enola Gay) and Stratoliner. USAF Museum has all three - Bockscar instead of Enola Gay (sister aircraft that dropped the two bombs) plus way more aircraft including Valkerie, B-52, B-2, Memphis Belle, so many more.

So I guess Smithsonian is good if you want to just go to one museum - and it's a lot easier to get to than Dayton OH or KSC FL - but if you have the time to see these others, Smithsonian is inferior - IMO.

 

[chillbaby]

USAF National Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Hands down the best military aviation museum in the world. It has everything.

Totally agree. Could easily spend 2 days there with the added bonus of fairly constant movements from Wright-Patterson AFB

 

[Scarlett]

How can no one have nominated Wallyworld…

Welcome to Fighter World

Located just 20 mins drive north of Newcastle at Newcastle Airport, Fighter World is an aviation museum dedicated to preserving RAAF fighter aircraft and is a totally hands on experience.

www.fighterworld.com.au

I think it would fit in comfortably about position 27 on the list of flight related museums already nominated.

It’s pretty good for a visit if in the area, but not sure I’d go too far out my way.

Another Dayton #1 for me.
And Duxford.
And BBMF Conningsby.
And Darwin.
Dan Dirgantala Mandala TNIAU.
And National Museum of Flight Edinburgh.
And RN FAA museum RNAS Yeovilton.
Et Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, Le Bourget.
And Pacific Aviation Museum, Pearl Hbr.
And Wright Brothers National Memorial.
And QF Longreach.
And National Museum of Nuclear Science, ABQ.

of those I’ve visited anyway.

 

[jastel]

Post 2 - I just called it Newcastle/ Williamstown but...couldnt remember its proper name.

 

[l31gh]

For me the best I have been to is the Berlin Museum of Technology, the DC3 suspened from the roof was pretty cool and they have a heap of other rare german WW2 planes as well as a huge range of trains and other genral transport items.

 

[bPeteb]

One thing I like to do when traveling is to visit interesting flight-related museums. My favourite so far is Duxford Imperial War Museum near Cambridge in the UK. On one RTW trip I was "transiting" through London with an early morning arrival into LGW (from DFW) and then an evening departure from LHR (to SIN). So I rented a car and drove around the M25, through the Dartford tunnel and up to Duxford where I spent the day. It was a windy, cold, rainy February day, and I pretty much had the whole p[lace to myself, except for a few fellows restoring a Spitfire in one of the hangers.

I could spend as much time as I wanted walking through Concorde 001 (the flight test aircraft). I was disappointed that the static display VC10 was closed that day, but did get back (with my entire family) a few years later on a more pleasant summer day when the VC10 was open for inspection.

What flight or travel-related museums have other members found interesting and why?

Another vote for Udvar Hazy Center

 

[Matt_01]

I like museums in general, never really thought about just aircraft museums but have been to to the one in NYC, SEA, NTL and a couple more in the 1990’s. The war memorial in Seoul also has a few aircraft on display both indoors and outdoors.

 

[codash1099]

Museum of Flight in Seattle definitely. Closely followed by the Smithsonian in Washington and at Udvar Hazy. There are also many museums that have flight exhibits (Imperial War Museum in London, The National WWII Museum in New Orleans).

 

[SeatBackForward]

London Transport Museum in Covent Garden is also worth a visit...but London Transport Museum have a storage place near Acton. Its open for guided tours a few days per month. The guides seem to have a certain amount of freedom as to what they want to talk about. On one occasion the guide we had was a bus enthusiast so we pretty much just looked at old buses. An other time the guide was interested in old underground stock so talked mainly about trains. The Acton depot also holds LTM's collection of small items, posters, railway signs etc and you can go on a tour that just looks at those

Second this one! I think I spent about 4hrs in there last week, it was very interesting, eespcially reading about the early history of the Omnibuses. I think I spend a good 30mins just at the diorama of the cut and cover construction of the tube.

 

[AIRwin]

Queensland Air Museum at Caloundra - large collection, lots outside

Women in Aviation open day on Saturday:

Queensland Air Museum

Queensland Air Museum is run entirely by volunteers to preserve of Australia’s aviation heritage. You will be amazed and inspired by our collection of over 80 historical military and civilian aircraft set on 2 hectares in beautiful Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

www.qldair.museum

 

[Seat0B]

It’s got to be the US Air Force museum in Dayton.

So lucky to have enjoyed a 2 yr positing to Wright Patterson AFB so this place was like our local.