An aviation museum , air museum , or air and space museum is a museum exhibiting the history and artifacts of aviation . In addition to actual, replica or accurate reproduction aircraft , exhibits can include photographs , maps , models , dioramas , clothing and equipment used by aviators .
5-927: Newark Air Museum is an air museum located on a former Royal Air Force station at Winthorpe , near Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire , England . The museum contains a variety of aircraft . The airfield was known as RAF Winthorpe during the Second World War , opening in September 1940. From 1942 to 1944, it housed No. 1661 Heavy Conversion Unit , training Avro Lancaster crews, in No. 5 Group with around thirty planes. In 1944 it joined No. 7 Group , still within Bomber Command. In 1945 it transferred to Transport Command . The following units were posted at RAF Winthorp at some point: In 1964, 200 acres (0.81 km) of
10-683: The Southfield Site. A second display hall was opened on this property in 2004. The Air Museum has, for the past few years, hosted the annual Cockpitfest. This popular event calls on enthusiasts and 'cockpitters' alike to bring their memorabilia for others to see and, in the case of cockpits, get inside. The Cockpitfest celebrated its 10th anniversary in June 2009. Air museum Aviation museums vary in size from housing just one or two aircraft to hundreds. They may be owned by national, regional or local governments or be privately owned. Some museums address
15-516: The former airfield were purchased by the Newark and Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society , who have since held the Newark and Nottinghamshire County Show . A limited company called Newark (Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire) Air Museum was formed in 1968. The museum officially opened on 14 April 1973. In 1990, the museum opened its first exhibition hall. This was followed by the purchase of an additional 12.38 acres (0.0501 km) of land that became known as
20-645: The ground or fly some of them. Museums that do not fly their aircraft may have decided not to do so either because the aircraft are not in condition to fly or because they are considered too rare or valuable. Museums may fly their aircraft in air shows or other aviation related events, accepting the risk that flying them entails. Some museums have sets of periodicals, technical manuals, photographs and personal archives. These are often made available to aviation researchers for use in writing articles or books or to aircraft restoration specialists working on restoring an aircraft. This aerospace museum–related article
25-513: The history and artifacts of space exploration as well, illustrating the close association between aeronautics and astronautics . Many aviation museums concentrate on military or civil aviation, or on aviation history of a particular era, such as pioneer aviation or the succeeding "golden age" between the World Wars, aircraft of World War II or a specific type of aviation, such as gliding . Aviation museums may display their aircraft only on
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