Tuesday, 31 October 2017

The Shuttleworth Collection

The wife and I went away for the weekend for a friends wedding and on the way home we decided to visit the Shuttleworth Collection. I have been meaning to visit this museum for a long time and now that I have been I realise that I am going to have to come back to again. This aeronautical and automotive museum is renowned for its prestigious collection of very old and well-preserved aircraft, many of which still fly. In fact the reason I'm going to have to revisit the museum again is they hold a monthly air display - although sadly their season has now ended. Something to pencil into next years calendar!

A replica 1916 Sopwith Triplane

1920 Sopwith Dove (Replica)

SE5A

Model of a Fokker Triplane, the German 'copy'of the Sopwith Triplan.

Bristol Scout Type C - This replica was built in the 80's and still flies regularly

1918 Avro 504K

Replica of a 1918 Sopwith Camel

1916 Sopwith Pup


Bristol F.2b Fighter

20lb Cooper Bombs in their rack

1941 Hawker Sea Hurricane IB

Hawker Hurricane Mk 1

Part of a 1944 Messerschmitt ME 163B-1a Komet - The Komet used fuel that was so toxic and corrosive that flight and ground crew had to wear special protective clothing.

1938 Westland Lysander

Aircraft workshop

1934 DH88 Comet

Hawker Cygnet

The oldest flying aircraft in the collection- a 1909 Bleriot Type XI

The museum also has a nice collection of vehicles and motorcycles

1938 Hillman Minx Staff Car

1945 DH89a Dragon Rapide

Wallis Autogyro WA-116 "Little Nellie" as seen in the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice"

The aircraft pictured here represent only a tiny portion of the collection so there is much much more to see in person. The bulk of the aircraft are displayed in six adjacent hangers allowing visitors to view the displays regardless of the weather. There is also a very nice cafe on site and an excellently stocked shop so you'll be hard pressed to go home empty handed. Well worth a visit and definitely worth a journey for an airshow day next year! 

2 comments:

  1. So many beautiful models of planes, thanks for sharing...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the pics. Looks like a really good trip

    ReplyDelete

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