Cornwall at War Museum, Davidstow — military, WW2 & wartime museum

Military vehicles, armour and artillery

This is the collection people mean when they search for a military museum, war museum, WW2 museum, armed-forces museum or military-vehicle museum in Cornwall — and often for a tank museum Cornwall does not quite have. The hangar holds military vehicles including a Humber "Pig" armoured personnel carrier, a Ferret scout car, heavy recovery vehicles and a Fordson tractor that spent the war towing bomb trolleys at RAF St Eval. Around them sit artillery, small arms from 1914 onwards, a U-boat gun, a Rapier missile display and a full-size V-1.

It is not a dedicated tank museum — no main battle tanks — but it is the county's broadest display of military hardware, spread through original airfield buildings with Royal Navy, Army and RAF sections, a WW1 trench, Home Front rooms and the Falklands. If you want armour, artillery and wartime Cornwall under one roof, this is the place.

WW2 museum Cornwall — Davidstow Moor and the Home Front

RAF Davidstow Moor was a Coastal Command station, so the WW2 story here is airfield life as much as battlefield hardware: the crews who hunted U-boats over the Western Approaches, the ground staff, and the county's Home Front. Rooms cover the Blitz, civil defence, women's services and the everyday of wartime Cornwall, which is why "WW2 museum Cornwall" and "war museum Cornwall" both land here rather than at a coastal fort or castle.

Aircraft on the old RAF Davidstow Moor airfield

On show are a Fairey Gannet ECM.6 (XG831), a Hawker Hunter F.6 (XG164), a de Havilland Vampire T.11 nose section, a Westland Sea King rear-crew trainer and a Northrop Chukar target drone. A separate, smaller RAF Davidstow Moor Memorial Museum sits on the same airfield, which makes a double bill — check the red gates so you arrive at the right one.

Opening times, tickets, airfield tours and location

The museum is at Nottles Park, Davidstow, Camelford, Cornwall PL32 9YF, with adult admission around £7 and most of the site under cover. Allow two hours minimum. Guided airfield tours in the museum minibus run on Thursday afternoons in July, August and September and must be booked. Confirm open days and prices on the official site — winter opening is limited.

Ticket intent is straightforward: pay on arrival for standard days; book the airfield tour separately when it is running. Pair with Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre at Newquay only if you have time for two different collections on opposite sides of the county.