The Museum of Flight has two large hangers crammed with aircraft and some larger aircraft parked outside (with still more under restoration or in store and not normally on view to the public). Click on the thumb-nails below to view larger images of a selection of the aircraft on display plus brief notes on each one.
The Museum of Flight is constantly updating to the displays and recent additions include "Fantastic Flight" giving visitors you the chance to get to grips with the mechanics of flight in a new hand-on interactive galleries. It also features over 25 activities where you can feel the force of lift, discover what planes are made of and test your own skills. There are also flight simulators where you have the chance to land an aeroplane - and find out if you can fly solo. And the "Fortunes of War" exhibition presents the human story of the historic military airfield on which the National Museum of Flight stands. Using personal testimony, photographs, film and unique artefacts, it tells the story of the human experience of service at East Fortune.
Selection of Aircraft on View
Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger graphic on a separate page:
There are not many aviation museums in Scotland so the Museum of Flight, an offshoot of the Royal Museum of Scotland, shines like a beacon. Its base at East Fortune has itself a long pedigree in aviation. On 2nd July 1919 the airship R34, built by the Beardmore Engineering Company of Glasgow, left East Fortune Airfield and battled against strong headwinds to arrive at Long Island near New York on 6 July. This was the first east-west crossing of the Atlantic by air. Later, in the Second World War, the first German Luftwaffe aircraft shot down over Britain was by pilots based at East Fortune. On 16 October 1939, Spitfires of 602 (City of Glasgow) and 603 (City of Edinburgh) squadrons shot down two Ju88 dive bombers attacking Leith.
In 2005, The museum obtained one of the former British Airways Concorde aircraft when it was retired from service. it is now one of the prime exhibits at East Fortune - visitors can go on board and see her as she looked when she last flew. There is also a film presentation telling the story of Scotland's Concorde, G-BOAA, through the eyes of the pilots, flight engineer, cabin crew and passengers.
