The Jet Age Museum is the trading name of the Gloucestershire Aviation Collection, an all-volunteer, charitable organisation dedicated to the preservation of Gloucestershire's aviation heritage. The

aviation museum An aviation museum, air museum, or air and space museum is a museum exhibiting the history and cultural artifacts, artifacts of aviation. In addition to actual, replica or accurate reproduction aircraft, exhibits can include photographs, maps, Ph ...

is located on the north side of

Gloucestershire Airport Gloucestershire Airport , formerly Staverton Airport, is a small airport located in Churchdown, England. It lies west of Cheltenham, near the city of Gloucester and close to the M5 motorway. Its operator claims it to be Gloucestershire's larg ...

, between

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

and

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

. It houses a number of

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

, aero engines, cockpits and other related exhibits. It is themed on the early development of

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by one or more jet engines. Whereas the engines in Propeller (aircraft), propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much ...

, in particular the role played by the

Gloster Aircraft Company The Gloster Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1917 to 1963. Founded as the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited during the First World War, with the aircraft construction activities of H.H. Martyn & Co. of Chelte ...

and other local firms such as

Dowty Rotol Dowty Propellers is a British engineering company based in Brockworth, Gloucestershire that specialises in the manufacture, repair and overhaul of propellers and propeller components for customers around the world. It is owned by GE Aerospace ...

and

Smiths Industries Smiths or Smith's may refer to: Companies *Smith Electric Vehicles, or Smith's, a manufacturer of electric trucks *Smith's Food and Drug, or Smith's, an American supermarket chain ** Smith's Ballpark, a baseball stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, U. ...

. The museum is also the custodian of the Russell Adams photographic archive.

History

The organisation was formed in 1986 and established as a company limited by guarantee. The museum first opened to the public at the Gloucester Trading Estate, the former Brockworth aerodrome. With the aid of grants and public donations, it began to amass a collection of aircraft. The museum's first significant public opening began with a temporary exhibition in a hangar adjacent to Gloucestershire Airport. This had to close in 2000 after it was announced the former wartime hangar was to be demolished. The aircraft were dispersed to a number of locations in Gloucestershire including, briefly, at the former GAC 'shadow' factory at Bentham. A workshop was established at Brockworth Court and the remaining airframes eventually made their way back to Gloucestershire Airport, where they were placed in open storage. In 2005, an

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), R ...

in the collection was sold for restoration. The museum made a number of unsuccessful bids to the Heritage Lottery Fund to construct a purpose-built facility before finally submitting plans for a building at Gloucestershire Airport. In January 2011 plans were approved for a new building to house the museum's collection. One year later, an agreement was reached for a 45 year lease of the land the building sits on. The museum opened provisionally from 24 August 2013 and officially in May 2014. A Gloster Meteor was added in 2013 and a Gloster Javelin purchased from

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or more simply RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 19 ...

in 2014 was moved to the museum a few months later. With these acquisitions, the museum had a significant number of aircraft on display outside and as a result announced a fundraising campaign for an extension in 2019.

Collection

Aircraft on display

Gloster Gamecock The Gloster Gamecock was a biplane fighter aircraft, fighter designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Gloster Aircraft Company, Gloster. The Gamecock was a development of the earlier Gloster Grebe, Grebe Mk III, an early inte ...

''J7904'' – reproduction *

Gloster E28/39 The Gloster E.28/39, (also referred to as the Gloster Whittle, Gloster Pioneer, or Gloster G.40) was the first British Turbojet, turbojet-engined aircraft first flying in 1941. It was the third turbojet aircraft to fly after the German Heinkel ...

– replica * Gloster Meteor F.8 ''WH364'' * Gloster Meteor NF.13 ''WM366'' – on loan * Gloster Meteor T.7 ''VW453'' * Gloster Meteor T.7 ''WF784'' * Gloster Javelin FAW.9 ''XH903'' *

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

''V6799'' – replica

Aircraft cockpits

Avro Vulcan B.2 The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) was a Jet aircraft, jet-powered, Tailless aircraft, tailless, delta wing, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 u ...

''XM569'' * Gloster Meteor F.3 ''EE425'' * Hawker Hunter F.4 ''XE664'' * Hawker Siddeley Harrier T.2 ''XW264'' *

Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B The Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident (originally the de Havilland DH.121 and briefly the Airco DH.121) is a British airliner produced by Hawker Siddeley. In 1957, de Havilland proposed its DH.121 trijet design to a British European Airways (BEA) ...

''2321''

Aircraft stored or under restoration

Airspeed Horsa The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century ...

– replica cockpit * Armstrong-Whitworth Meteor NF.14 ''WS807'' * English Electric Canberra B.2 ''WK126'' – on loan * Gloster Gladiator II ''N5914'' * Gloster Javelin FAW.4 ''XA634'' * Hawker Typhoon Ia/Ib

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Aerospace museums in England Museums in Gloucestershire