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 is located on the north side of

Gloucestershire Airport Gloucestershire Airport , formerly Staverton Airport, is a small airport at 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 largest g ...

, between

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

and Cheltenham. It houses a number of

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

, aero engines, cockpits and other related exhibits. It is themed on the early development of jet aircraft, 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 Ltd 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 General Elect ...

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-engined, 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 (RCA ...

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 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 RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) 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 1991, it ...

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 designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Gloster. The Gamecock was a development of the earlier Grebe Mk III, an early interwar fighter procured by the Royal Air Force (RAF). Wor ...

''J7904'' – reproduction * Gloster E28/39 – 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 b ...

''V6799'' – replica

Aircraft cockpits

Avro Vulcan B.2 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 an ...

''XM569'' * Gloster Meteor F.3 ''EE425'' * Hawker Hunter F.4 ''XE664'' * Hawker Siddeley Harrier T.2 ''XW264'' * Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B ''2321''

Aircraft stored or under restoration

* Airspeed Horsa – 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