Solent Sky (previously known as the Southampton Hall of Aviation) is an

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 ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, England. The museum depicts the history of aviation in Southampton, the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and mainland Great Britain; the major historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth lie inland of its shores. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit whi ...

area and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. There is a focus on

Supermarine Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. The company built a range of seaplanes and flying boats, winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three cons ...

, the aircraft company based in Woolston, Southampton, and its most famous products, the Supermarine S.6 seaplane and the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...

, designed by a team led R. J. Mitchell. There is also coverage of the

Schneider Trophy The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded first annually, and later biennially, to the winner of a race for seaplanes and ...

seaplane races, twice held at Calshot Spit, and the

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

services which operated from the Solent.

History

The forerunner to the museum was a museum focusing on

set up in the 1970s in a

NAAFI The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI ) is a company created by the United Kingdom, British government on 9 December 1920 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their fam ...

hut alongside Havelock Road. In the latter part of 1982 decay of the buildings lead to the museum committee petitioning Southampton city council to build a new museum. Construction of the current building began in 1983 and was designed by Barry Eaton, then the City Architect. A Short Sandringham on loan from the science museum group was moved into the unfished building on 1 July 1983. The new museum opened 26 May 1984. On 25 November 2023 the fuselage of a

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (BAC-111, BAC 1-11) is a retired early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-seat airl ...

was moved to the exterior of the museum from Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre. In November 2024 the museum was granted planning permission to build a connection between the aircraft fuselage and the main museum. In 2017 the museum acquired a

Britten-Norman Trislander The Britten-Norman Trislander (more formally designated the BN-2A Mk III Trislander) is a trimotor, three-engined piston engine, piston-powered utility aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Britten-Norman. The Tri ...

that had previously been operated by

Aurigny Aurigny Air Services Limited (pronounced ), commonly known as Aurigny, is the flag carrier airline of the Bailiwick of Guernsey with its head office next to Guernsey Airport in the Channel Islands, and wholly owned by the States of Guernsey ...

. It was moved to their Southampton site in April 2025.

Exhibits

Aircraft

Aircraft on display at the museum include: Supermarine S

Avro 504 The Avro 504 is a single-engine biplane bomber made by the Avro, Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during World War I totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind ...

J - Replica * Britten-Norman BN-1 *

de Havilland Sea Vixen The de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen is a British twin-engine, twin boom-tailed, two-seat, carrier-based fleet air-defence fighter flown by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm from the 1950s to the early 1970s. The Sea Vixen was designed by the de Havi ...

FAW Mk.1 - ''XJ476'' *

de Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary traine ...

de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland DH100 Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteo ...

Folland Gnat The Folland Gnat is a British compact swept-wing subsonic aircraft, subsonic fighter aircraft that was developed and produced by Folland Aircraft. Envisioned as an affordable light fighter in contrast to the rising cost and size of typical comb ...

* Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.3 - Cockpit section. Modified to resemble Harrier FRS.1 * Mignet HM.14 ''Pou-du-Ciel'' * Saro Skeeter (x 2) * Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 - ''TG263'' * Short Sandringham S.25/V - ''VH-BRC, Beachcomber'' *

Slingsby Grasshopper The Slingsby T.38 Grasshopper is a British primary training glider built by Slingsby Sailplanes for the Royal Air Force.Hardy 1982, p. 115. Development The design is based on the pre-World War II German SG 38 Schulgleiter, modified to use t ...

* Slingsby Tandem Tutor * SUMPAC * Supermarine Nighthawk - propellers only * Supermarine S.6A - ''N248'', competed in the 1929 Schneider Trophy * Supermarine Seagull - Nose section only *

F.24 - ''PK683'' * Supermarine Swift - Cockpit section * Wight Quadruplane - Replica

Engines

The following engines can be seen at the museum:

* Alvis Leonides * Alvis Leonides Major *

Bristol Siddeley Orpheus The Bristol Siddeley Orpheus is a single-spool turbojet developed by Bristol Siddeley for various light fighter/trainer applications such as the Folland Gnat and the Fiat G.91. Later, the Orpheus formed the core of the first Bristol Pegasus ...

Bristol Proteus The Bristol Proteus was the Bristol Engine Company's first mass-produced gas turbine engine design, a turboprop that delivered just over 4,000 hp (3,000 kW). The Proteus was a reverse-flow gas turbine. Because the second turbine drov ...

* de Havilland Gipsy Major *

Gnome Monosoupape The ''Monosoupape'' ( French for single-valve), was a rotary engine design first introduced in 1913 by Gnome Engine Company (renamed Gnome et Rhône in 1915). It used a clever arrangement of internal transfer ports and a single pushrod-opera ...

* Metrovick Beryl * Napier Gazelle *

Napier Lion The Napier Lion is a 12-cylinder, petrol-fueled 'broad arrow' W12 engine, W12 configuration aircraft engine built by D. Napier & Son from 1917 until the 1930s. A number of advanced features made it the most powerful engine of its day and kept ...

* Napier Naiad *

Napier Sabre The Napier Sabre is a British H engine, H-24-cylinder, coolant, liquid-cooled, sleeve valve, piston aircraft engine, aero engine, designed by Frank Halford, Major Frank Halford and built by D. Napier & Son during World War II. The engine evolv ...

* Napier Scorpion * Rolls-Royce/Continental 0-300 * Rolls-Royce Derwent *

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British Coolant#Liquids, liquid-cooled V12 engine, V-12 Reciprocating engine, piston aero engine of 27-litre (1,650 cu in) Engine displacement, capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited, Rolls-Royce designed the engine an ...

Calshot Spit lightship

The '' LV 78 Calshot Spit'' is a lightship built in

in 1914. It was decommissioned in 1987. Between 1988 and 2010, it was located at the entrance to Ocean Village marina, which formed a static attraction at the marina. This Trinity House navigation aid had guided ships entering Southampton Water from the western end of the Solent, coming around the low lying sand and shingle Calshot Spit. It was built in 1914 by J I Thornycroft shipyard in Southampton, and decommissioned in 1978. The lightship was removed on 3 November 2010 and taken to be restored at Trafalgar Dry Dock. The lightship was to become a "gateway attraction" at a new heritage museum called Aeronautica. The plans for Aeronautica came to a halt in January 2012. In December 2019 the Calshot Spit Lightship was transported to its new home at the Solent Sky Museum with plans to convert it into part of the museum's cafe.

Other items

In 2017 an exhibition by the Hampshire Police and Fire Heritage Trust was added to the museum. In September 2020, three of Southampton's former trams were moved to the museum site. There are plans for the trams to undergo restoration before going on public display. The restoration of Tram 11 was completed by May 2025.

Charity

The work of Solent Sky is supported by a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

, the R. J. Mitchell Memorial Museum Limited, whose objects are "to advance the education of the public in matters relating to aviation by establishing and maintaining a museum as a permanent memorial to R. J. Mitchell, the designer of the Schneider Trophy S6B seaplane and the Spitfire."

References

External links

Official website

R. J. Mitchell website
(self-published website, now inactive)

{{authority control Aerospace museums in England Museums in Southampton The Solent Science and technology in Hampshire