De Havilland Aircraft Museum

Station briefing

About this museum

Britain's oldest aviation museum (founded 1959) exists because Salisbury Hall, a moated Tudor manor, is where de Havilland's design team secretly created the Mosquito in 1939–40 — and the actual prototype came home. Everything DH is here: Vampire, Sea Vixen, Comet airliner nose, and the evolution of the wooden wonder told next to the very airframe that started it.

~20 on charge~6 Comet, Trident & DH airliners~5 Vampire, Venom & Sea Vixen~5 Moths & Chipmunk3 Mosquitoes — three of them

Star of the show

Mosquito prototype W4050, the original 1940 aircraft, in the place it was designed and first assembled. No other British museum has anything quite so foundational sitting so casually in a shed.

Notable airframes

Mosquito prototype W4050 — the original 1940 aircraft
Three Mosquitoes under one roof
DH.106 Comet airliner
Sea Vixen FAW.2

Visitor intel

Three Mosquitoes under one roof; interior access to the Comet, Trident and 146 charts the whole arc of jet travel. Volunteer engine demonstrations get glowing mentions.

“Fantastic museum with really well presented exhibits from the DH stable.”— ben, visitor report

Order of battle

Airframe checklist

Tick them off as you go. Identities are as held in the gazetteer survey — verify against the museum’s own labels if something has moved.

	Type	Identity
	Airspeed Horsa I/II BAPC.232 – Composite fuselage	—
	British Aerospace 146-100 G-JEAO – Fuselage only	—
	Cierva C.24 G-ABLM – On permanent loan from the Science Museum	—
	de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10 WP790	—
	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.5 VV217	—
	de Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.6 J-1008	—
	de Havilland DH.103 Hornet VX250 – Tail section	—
	de Havilland DH.104 Dove 8 G-AREA	—
	de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1A F-BGNX – Fuselage only	—
	de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1A G-ANAV – Nose section	—
	de Havilland DH.106 Comet 2 – Nose section	—
	de Havilland DH.106 Comet C.2(R) XK695 – Cockpit section	—
	de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen FAW.2 XJ565	—
	de Havilland DH.112 Sea Venom FAW.22 XG730	—
	de Havilland DH.112 Venom FB.4 WR539	—
	de Havilland DH.112 Venom FB.50 J-1632	—
	de Havilland DH.112 Venom FB.54 J-1790	—
	de Havilland DH.112 Venom NF.3 WX853	—
	de Havilland DH.113 Vampire NF.10 WM729 – fuselage pod only	—
	de Havilland DH.114 Heron G-AOTI	—
	de Havilland DH.115 Vampire T.11 XJ772	—
	de Havilland DH.125 Jet Dragon G-ARYA – Cockpit section only	—
	de Havilland DH.125 Series 1 G-ARYC	—
	de Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird J7326 – Fuselage only	—
	de Havilland DH.82 Queen Bee LF789 – Fuselage only	—
	de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth G-ANRX	—
	de Havilland DH.87 Hornet Moth G-ADOT	—
	de Havilland DH.88 Comet G-ACSR – Replica	—
	de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide G-AKDW	—
	de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito FB.VI TA122/TW233	—
	de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito Prototype W4050	—
	de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito TT.35 TJ118 – Fuselage, with nose section removed.	—
	de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito TT(B)35 TA634	—
	de Havilland Ghost	—
	de Havilland Gipsy Major	—
	de Havilland Gipsy Queen	—
	de Havilland Gipsy Twelve	—
	de Havilland Goblin	—
	de Havilland Gyron	—
	de Havilland Gyron Junior	—
	de Havilland H3	—
	de Havilland Iris (replica)	—
	de Havilland Spectre	—
	de Havilland Super Sprite	—
	Hawker Siddeley HS.121 Trident 2E G-AVFH – Fuselage only	—
	Rolls-Royce Gnome	—
	Rolls-Royce Merlin	—

Inventory researched 2026-07-18: source 1 · source 2. Aircraft move between sites; report corrections to the compiler.

Visit

Location & contact

Address: Salisbury Hall, London Colney, Shenley, St Albans AL2 1BU
Phone: 01727 826400
Website: www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/
Hours: Tue–Sun 10.30am–5pm (Mar–Oct)
(from your local clock — verify before travel)
Gazetteer: LD-03 on the situation map