The Shuttleworth Collection is a working aviation, automotive and agricultural collection located at Old Warden Aerodrome in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

The collection was founded in 1928 by aviator Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth. While flying a

Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Ha ...

at night on 2 August 1940, Shuttleworth fatally crashed. His mother, in 1944, formed the Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth Remembrance Trust "for the teaching of the science and practice of aviation and of afforestation and agriculture."

Collection

Restoration and maintenance work is carried out by a staff of 12 full-time and many volunteer engineers. These volunteers are all members of the 3,000-strong Shuttleworth Veteran Aeroplane Society (SVAS). These dedicated enthusiasts are crucial to the preservation and restoration of the collection. In addition to the aircraft, the collection houses a number of vintage and veteran cars. Events include model-flying days, flying proms and events dedicated to British engineering. The Shuttleworth Collection puts an emphasis on restoring as many aircraft as possible to flying condition, in line with the founder's original intention. There are typically about seven air shows per year, including evening displays and an annual Flying Proms event.

The Edwardian flying machines

Some of the most notable aircraft in the collection are the five

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

aeroplanes, of which one is the oldest

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

aeroplane still in flying condition. The oldest, with British civil registration G-AANG, is the Bleriot XI (still with original engine), which dates back to 1909; six years after the

Wright brothers The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...

' aircraft and the world's oldest airworthy aeroplane, the next oldest being, at only three weeks newer by date of manufacture, the

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome The Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is a living museum in Red Hook, New York, Red Hook, New York, adjacent to the town of Rhinebeck (town), New York, Rhinebeck. Founded in 1958, it owns many examples of airworthy aircraft from the Aviation in the pioneer ...

's own restored original Bleriot XI (Bleriot factory serial number 56, with civil registration N60094) in the United States.

Aircraft in the collection

*Data from Also resident, but privately owned: * Miles M14a Hawk Trainer N3788 G-AKPF *

Westland Wallace The Westland Wallace was a British two-seat, general-purpose biplane of the Royal Air Force, developed by Westland Aircraft, Westland as a follow-on to their successful Westland Wapiti, Wapiti.Philpott, pp. 431-432. As the last of the interwar ...

replica fuselage * De Havilland DH89A Rapide G-AGSH painted as British European Airways * Sopwith Dove G-EAGA Aircraft of the BAE Systems heritage collection were formerly resident at Old Warden, however the last three aircraft were donated to Shuttleworth in March 2022, becoming part of the collection proper.

Vehicles in the collection

* 1898 Panhard et Levassor * 1899 Mors Petit Duc * 1899 Benz International dogcart * 1900 Marot Gardan * 1901 Locomobile Steam Car * 1901 Arrol-Johnston * 1902 Baby

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...

* 1903 Richard-Brasier * 1903 De Dietrich * 1912

Crossley Crossley, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, was a pioneering company in the production of internal combustion engines. Since 1989, it has been part of the Rolls-Royce Power Engineering group. More than 100,000 Crossley oil and gas engin ...

15 * 1912 Wolseley M5 * 1913 Morris Oxford * 1920 Hucks starter * 1923 Leyland SG7 bus * 1926 Jowett Short-chassis tourer * 1931

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

16 hp "Burnham" * 1935 Austin Seven * 1937 Railton * 1937

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

Topolino * 1937 MG TA * 1939

Hillman Hillman was a British automobile marque created by the Hillman-Coatalen Company, founded in 1907, renamed the Hillman Motor Car Company in 1910. The company was based in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, near Coventry, England. Before 1907 the company had ...

Minx RAF Staff Car * 1943 Fordson WOT 2H * 1900

Singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

Motor Wheel Motorcycle * 1904 Aurora Motorcycle * 1921 Scott

Squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

Combination * 1923 Triumph SD Motorcycle * 1927

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

14 Motorcycle * 1929 Ariel Motorcycle * 1938 Rudge Motorcycle * 1940 BSA M20 Motorcycle * 1950 Philips Cyclemaster * 1952 Brockhouse Corgi Scooter * 1955 BSA A7 Motorcycle * 1955 New Hudson Motorcycle * 1960 Norton ES2 Motorcycle There is also a collection of

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Ellis, Ken. ''Wrecks and Relics - 19th Edition'', Midland Publishing, Hinckley, Leicestershire. 2004. . * Guttery, T.E. ''The Shuttleworth Collection''. London: Wm. Carling & Co, 1969. . * Ogilvy, David. ''The Shuttleworth Collection''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1989 (revised edition 1994). . * Ogilvy, David. ''Shuttleworth - The Historic Aeroplanes''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1989 .

External links

* {{Authority control Aerospace museums in England Museums in Bedfordshire Automobile museums in England