Sywell Aviation Museum is based at

Sywell Aerodrome Sywell Aerodrome is the local aerodrome serving the towns of Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering and Rushden, as well as wider Northamptonshire. The aerodrome is located northeast of Northampton and was originally opened in 1928 on the edge ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, England. It is sited in the aircraft viewing car park at the aerodrome. It documents the history of flying in Northamptonshire from the early days to the present day with particular emphasis on the Second World War. The museum is run by the Sywell Aviation Museum Trust and is run by volunteers; it is closed during the winter months and reopens each Easter Saturday.

History

The Sywell Aviation Museum opened originally in May 2001 using three

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure originally for military use, especially as barracks, made from a 210° portion of a cylindrical skin of corrugated iron. It was designed during the First World War by the Canadian-American-British e ...

s from the former USAAF airfield at Bentwaters as its buildings. These were followed in 2011 and 2012 with the addition of two more Nissen huts from a former POW camp at Snape Farm, Derbyshire. All buildings are erected in a row, making five in total. Inside the museum can be found various displays on the history of aviation in Northamptonshire including aviation archaeology, aircraft cockpits, uniforms and models. A particular museum speciality is aircraft ordnance of which the museum has a wide variety from WW1

flechette A flechette or flèchette ( ) is a pointed, fin-stabilized steel projectile. The name comes from French (from \''wikt:flèche, flèche''), meaning "little arrow" or "Dart (missile), dart", and sometimes retains the grave accent in English: flè ...

darts to a concrete mockup of Britain's Blue Danube nuclear bomb. Missiles, rockets and bombs are also displayed, some on an original WW2 RAF bomb trolley towed by a WW2 RAF bomb tractor.

Internal displays

The displays are themed into the following halls:

The Paul Morgan Hall

The Paul Morgan Hall (Sywell Hall) charts the history of Sywell and including information on the aerodrome, RAF flying training there, a wartime LINK Trainer, and the museum's de Havilland Vampire T.11 jet fighter cockpit.

The RAF Hall

The RAF Hall has displays of RAF uniforms and equipment, a complete WW2 bomb train, an

Anderson shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but ...

, wartime kitchen and extensive display on the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...

The Main Hall

The Main Hall displays archaeological remains from

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...

and

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...

aircraft from local crashes. The story of WW1 in the air is also told as are the

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...

raids over Northamptonshire in WW1 and information about local ace Major

Mick Mannock Mick is a masculine given name or nickname, usually a hypocorism of Michael (given name), Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in the English-speaking world as an List of ethnic slurs, ethnic slur for Irish people. In A ...

. The museum's

de Havilland Chipmunk The de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk (or Chippie) is a tandem, two-seat, single-engined primary trainer aircraft designed and developed by Canadian aircraft manufacturer de Havilland Canada. It was developed shortly after the Second World Wa ...

and

de Havilland Rapide The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its outd ...

cockpits are available for children to try out.

The American Hall

The American Hall concentrates on three main units - the 315th Troop Carrier Group (Spanhoe), 20th Fighter Group (Kings Cliffe) and 305th Bomb Group (Chelveston) and displays original operation boards from the 20th FG, a mockup of a USAAF station armoury and B-17 cheek gunner's position. A Packard-built Merlin engine from a 20th FG North American Mustang is on display.

The POW/Cold War Hall

The POW/Cold War Hall covers the 1942 Wellingborough Blitz bombing raid, RAF escape and evasion and prisoners of war and the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

era, including use of THOR missiles in Northamptonshire. An Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire jet engine is displayed. which used to power the museum's

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...

External displays

A Hawker Hunter F.2 jet fighter is displayed outside the museum - it is the only complete F.2 mark left in existence. In March 2021, the museum's second complete airframe - Handley Page Jetstream 200 G-RAVL arrived at Sywell from Cranfield Airfield. The machine was the demonstrator for Sywell-based Jetstream Ltd in the 1970s and won the Daily Express National Air Race between Sywell-Biggin Hill on 12 June 1971. The aircraft is to be restored and used as a classroom.

Aircraft on display

* de Havilland Vampire T.11 XD599 ''Vicky'' (cockpit) * de Havilland Canada Chipmunk T.10 WG419 ''Clare'' (cockpit) * Hawker Hunter F.2 WN904 ''Heidi'' * de Havilland DH.89a Dragon Rapide 'G-AJHO' ''Rachel'' (cockpit -replica) * Slingsby Grasshopper TX.1 WZ820 (stored) * de Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth G-AOES ''Tara'' (cockpit, stored, under restoration) * Handley Page HP-137 Jetstream 200 G-RAVL (ex N1035S, G-AWVK) ''Jenny'' (under restoration) (*privately owned)

List of awards won by Sywell Aviation Museum at the Northamptonshire Heritage Awards

Museum of the Year and Best Exhibition 2007 Highly Commended, Best Special Project 2011 & 2012 Best Special Project and Peoples' Choice Awards 2013 Best Community Project 2014 Highly Commended Best Community Project 2018 In July 2019 the museum won The Peoples' Choice Award at the Northamptonshire Heritage Awards voted for by the visiting public as the best Museum in Northamptonshire for 2019 and 2020. Highly Commended Best Special Project 2021 Winner Best Event - Museum Grand Opening & 21st Birthday Party - Northants Heritage Awards October 2022 National Transport Trust Restoration Award - Jetstream Project September 2024

Visiting information

The museum opens on Easter Saturday and closes usually at the end of September. It is open between 1030 and 1630 each weekend and bank holiday during its open season and selected weekday afternoons. Group visits/guided tours are available by prior arrangement. Entry is free but donations are encouraged.

References

https://www.nationaltransporttrust.org.uk/media-centre-top/photo-gallery/2024-awards/restoration-awards-51/the-1969-handley-page-jetstream

External links

*https://www.sywellaviationmuseum.org.uk/ *http://www.airscene.co.uk/aviation_museums/UK/sywell_aviation_museum.php *http://www.northamptonshireheritageforum.co.uk/awards.html *https://www.sywellaviationmuseum.org.uk/exhibits/external-displays/handley-page-jetstream-g-ravl/ *https://www.northamptonshireheritageforum.co.uk/latest-news/and-the-winners-are {{authority control Museums in Northamptonshire Aerospace museums in England 1998 establishments in England Military aviation museums in England World War II museums in the United Kingdom