The South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum (SYAM) is a Volunteer led museum located at Lakeside in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It occupies the former site of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Station,

RAF Doncaster Royal Air Force Doncaster or more simply RAF Doncaster, also referred to as Doncaster Aerodrome, is a former Royal Air Force station near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The first Aviation meeting in England In 1909, Doncaster and specif ...

. The museum occupies the last remaining original buildings from RAF Doncaster in the shape of a Bellman hangar, two wooden 'Billet Huts' (''Buildings 19 and 21'') and various smaller structures. The Museum have also erected an

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

Cadet Hut alongside ''Building 21'' to house its

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Collection. The museum is also home to the Yorkshire Helicopter Preservation Group (YHPG) who relocated from the

Yorkshire Air Museum The Yorkshire Air Museum & Allied Air Forces Memorial is an aviation museum in Elvington, York on the site of the former RAF Elvington airfield, a Second World War RAF Bomber Command station. The museum was founded, and first opened to the pu ...

at Elvington, near York in July 2002. The YHPG display their collection of helicopters among the exhibits at SYAM (With the exception of Westland Dragonfly HAR3 WN499, which remains at Elvington), and have an onsite workshop for continued restoration of their aircraft.

Aircraft on display

The South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum has a wide range of aircraft on display from the earliest days of aviation, through to modern military fast jets. The museum also hosts a large collection of Civilian aircraft and gliders. The South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum is also home to the largest permanent display remembering and honouring the men and women who fought during the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

, with a collection of aircraft on display having been flown during the conflict, or representative of their type. The museum also preserves a large collection of aircraft with links to the local area, many having flown from local airfields such as

RAF Finningley Royal Air Force Finningley or RAF Finningley was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station at Finningley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The station straddled the historic county boundaries of both ...

Doncaster Sheffield Airport Doncaster Sheffield Airport , formerly named and commonly referred to as Robin Hood Airport, is an unscheduled international airport closed to passenger traffic. The airport is located in Finningley near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. ...

and Doncaster Airfield (the former RAF Doncaster). The museum also has many exhibits which have been painstakingly restored by the volunteers, notably

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and ...

B.2 XL388,

Bristol Sycamore The Bristol Type 171 Sycamore was an early helicopter developed and built by the helicopter division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. The name refers to the seeds of the sycamore tree, '' Acer pseudoplatanus'', which fall with a rotating moti ...

HR.14 XE317,

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

T.7 WA667 and

Cessna 150 The Cessna 150 is a two-seat tricycle gear general aviation airplane that was designed for flight training, touring and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 22-23. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Monica CA, 1977. In 19 ...

G-AVAA.

Aircraft with local links

These aircraft listed below are significant to the aviation history of the Doncaster Area having flown from local airfields. *

De Havilland Dove The de Havilland DH.104 Dove is a British short-haul airliner developed and manufactured by de Havilland. The design, which was a monoplane successor to the pre-war Dragon Rapide biplane, came about from the Brabazon Committee report whic ...

G-ARUM/G-DDCD. Used by the National Coal Board as an Executive Transport aircraft and regularly flown into Doncaster Airfield. *

Handley Page Jetstream The Handley Page HP.137 Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage. The aircraft was designed to meet the requirements of the United States commuter and regional airline market. The design was later improved and b ...

XX495. Flown from RAF Finningley. The aircraft was donated to the museum by Bedford College in 2018. * Hawker Siddeley HS.125 Dominie T.1 XS735. Flown from RAF Finningley. *

Piper PA-23 Apache The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general-aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Origin ...

G-APMY. United Steel Transport aircraft, Regularly flown into Scunthorpe Steelworks. *

Vickers Varsity The Vickers Varsity is a retired British twin-engined crew trainer operated by the Royal Air Force from 1951 to 1976. Design and development The Varsity was developed by Vickers and based on the Viking and Valetta to meet Air Ministry Speci ...

WJ903. Flown from RAF Finningley. * Taylorcraft Auster AOP.1 LB314. Flown from RAF Firbeck (The museum's original site) during the Second World War. The Aircraft was transported by Museum Volunteers from Denmark in 2018 and is now on display in ''Building 21,'' where it retains its Civil Registration of OY-DSZ. * Grumman American AA-1B G-BCLW. Flown from RAF Finningley by one of the flying schools, G-BCLW was written off in 2013 after the propeller contacted the nose wheel spat during a heavy landing and the insurance company assessed the damage as uneconomical to repair. G-BCLW was first based at Doncaster Airfield, the museum's current site.

Falklands Collection

The aircraft listed below have links to the

and are on display at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum. *

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes ...

HU.5 XS481. *

Gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...

AH.1 XX411 of 3 Commando Brigade Air Squadron, was shot down on the first day of the landings by

small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

fire off

Port San Carlos Port San Carlos is located on the northern bank of the inlet known as Port San Carlos, off San Carlos Water on the Western coast of East Falkland, in the Falkland Islands. It is sometimes nicknamed "KC" after former owner Keith Cameron. The po ...

and
Pilot Sergeant Evans - RM
was killed. The airframe was recovered on 20 October 1982 and returned to

Middle Wallop Middle Wallop is a village in the civil parish of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, England, on the A343 road. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Over Wallop. The village has a public house, The George Inn, and a pet ...

for potential repair but was assessed as a structural loss. *

Aermacchi MB-339 The Aermacchi MB-339 is a military jet trainer and light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Italian aviation company Aermacchi. The MB-339 was developed during the 1970s in response to an Italian Air Force requirement that sought a re ...

4-A-116. One of three Argentinian MB339's captured by British forces during the Falklands War and the only one returned to the UK. Displayed at the

Fleet Air Arm Museum The Fleet Air Arm Museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships (especially aircraft carriers), and paintin ...

for a short period before being used by

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

and painted in a white scheme. Recently returned to its original Argentinian markings. * Bell Huey UH-1H Iroquois AE-406. Flown by the ''Aviacion de Ejercito Argentino EA'' (Argentinian Army Aviation) and captured by British forces during the Falklands War. *

Westland Scout The Westland Scout is a light helicopter developed by Westland Helicopters. Developed from the Saro P.531, it served as a land-based general purpose military helicopter, sharing a common ancestor and numerous components with the naval-orientat ...

AH.1 XV139. Flown during the Falklands War by 656 Squadron AAC, while on tasking at Port Harriet House on 9 June 1982, XV139 was fired at by an Argentine Blowpipe missile, which missed by less than 25 yards.

References

External links

Official website
* List of museums in South Yorkshire Aerospace museums in England {{UK-aerospace-museum-stub

Aircraft on display

Aircraft with local links

Falklands Collection

See also

References

External links