About this museum
Also known as / searched as: RAF Museum London · RAF Museum Hendon · Royal Air Force Museum London · Air Force Museum London · Hendon Aviation Museum · Air Museum Hendon · Hendon War Museum · Hendon Air Museum
The RAF Museum London (often searched as RAF Museum Hendon, the Hendon air museum or Hendon war museum) is the national collection on the old London Aerodrome where Claude Grahame-White ran flying pageants before the RAF existed. Free to enter, six halls deep, and arranged so you walk from Blériot-era stick-and-string (much of it displayed in Grahame-White's actual relocated factory building) to the jet age without breaking stride. The Bomber Command hall stops most visitors cold: a Lancaster parked nose-to-nose with the Halifax and the maths of 55,573 dead written plainly beside them. Colindale Tube is about ten minutes’ walk; timed-entry booking is recommended even though admission is free.
Listed inventory: 87 airframes.
Avro Lancaster R5868 'S-Sugar' — 137 operations, the RAF's highest-scoring surviving heavy — under the same roof as a Vulcan, a Sunderland you can peer into, and a genuinely unreasonable number of one-of-a-kind survivors.
- Lancaster I R5868 "S-Sugar" — 137 ops
- Hawker Typhoon IB, the only complete one
- Boulton Paul Defiant I, sole survivor
- Vickers Wellington (one of two left)
- Short Sunderland MR.5 flying boat
Entry is free but parking is not (and reviewers grumble about it); Colindale tube is a ten-minute walk. Timed-entry booking recommended. The playground and simulators keep non-believers occupied.
“This place is awesome,well worth a visit..”— cats, visitor report
RAF Museum London, Hendon — also searched as Hendon aviation museum
The Royal Air Force Museum London sits on the old London Aerodrome at Hendon, which is why people still search for RAF Museum Hendon, Hendon aviation museum, air force museum London and the Hendon air / war museum. They are all the same free national collection: Bomber Command hall with Lancaster R5868 "S for Sugar", Battle of Britain fighters, a Vulcan, and the paid Spitfire Experience cockpit session.
Tickets, booking and opening times
General admission is free, but timed-entry tickets are still recommended — book on the RAF Museum site before you travel, especially at weekends and school holidays. The museum normally opens daily from 10am to 5pm at Grahame Park Way, London NW9 5LL, with last entry before closing. Paid extras include the Spitfire Experience cockpit session and some special events; parking on site is charged.
Must-see aircraft at Hendon
Plan half a day around the Bomber Command and Battle of Britain halls alone. Highlights that draw most first-time visitors: Lancaster R5868 "S for Sugar", the Spitfire and Hurricane line-up, the Avro Vulcan, early jets, and the Grahame-White factory building with pioneer-era machines. Serials and current display status move — use this gazetteer page plus the museum's own labels on the day.
Getting to Hendon: Tube, rail and parking
Colindale on the Northern line is about a ten-minute walk, and Mill Hill Broadway is the nearest mainline station. There is on-site parking but it is charged — the one thing visitors consistently grumble about — so the Tube is usually the easier arrival. Pair a Hendon morning with Croydon Airport Visitor Centre only if you already have a first-Sunday ticket booked; they are different visits on different calendars.
Frequently asked
Is the RAF Museum London free?
Yes — general admission at Hendon is free. Paid extras include the Spitfire Experience and some events, and car parking is charged. Timed-entry booking is still recommended.
Do I need to book RAF Museum London tickets?
Free timed tickets are recommended via the official RAF Museum website, especially at busy times. Walk-ups are sometimes possible but not guaranteed.
Is RAF Museum Hendon the same as RAF Museum London?
Yes. Hendon is the place name for the London site of the Royal Air Force Museum — Colindale / Grahame Park Way NW9. There is a separate free sister museum at Cosford (RAF Museum Midlands).
What are the RAF Museum London opening times?
Normally daily, 10am to 5pm, with last admission before closing. Verify on the official site, as event days and holidays can change hours.
What is the address of the RAF Museum London?
Grahame Park Way, London NW9 5LL, on the site of the old London Aerodrome at Hendon.
Which Tube station is nearest?
Colindale, on the Northern line, roughly ten minutes on foot. Mill Hill Broadway is the closest mainline rail station.
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 Oxford I | MP425 | |
| Albatros D.Va Replica | 'D.7343/17' | |
| Avro 504 K | E449 | |
| Avro Anson I | W2068 | |
| Avro Lancaster I | R5868 | |
| Avro Rota | K4232 | |
| Avro Vulcan B.2 | XL318 | |
| BAC Jet Provost T.5A | XW323 | |
| BAC Lightning F.6 | XS925 | |
| BAe Harrier GR.9 | ZG477 | |
| Blériot XXVII | 433 | |
| Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress | 44-83868 | |
| Boeing CH-47D Chinook | 83-24104 | |
| Bristol Beaufighter TF.X | RD253 | |
| Bristol Beaufort VIII | DD931 | |
| Bristol Bulldog MkIIA | K2227 | |
| Bristol F.2b Fighter | E2466 | |
| Caudron G.3 | 3066 | |
| Consolidated B-24L Liberator | KN751 | |
| Curtiss Kittyhawk IV | FX760 | |
| de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10 | WP962 | |
| de Havilland Chipmunk T.10 | WP912 | |
| de Havilland DH.9A | F1010 | |
| de Havilland Mosquito B.35 | TJ138 | |
| de Havilland Vampire F.3 | VT812 | |
| English Electric Canberra PR.3 | WE139 | |
| Eurofighter Typhoon | ZH588 | |
| Fairey Battle | L5343 | |
| Fiat CR.42 Falco | MM5701 | |
| Fokker DVII | 8417/18 | |
| General Atomics MQ-1B Predator | 03-3119 | |
| Gloster Gladiator II | N5628 | |
| Gloster Meteor F.8 | WH301 | |
| Handley Page Halifax II | W1048 | |
| Handley Page Hampden TB.1 | P1344 | |
| Handley Page Hereford L6012 (original Hampden P1344 tail boom section) | L6012 | |
| Handley Page Victor K.2 | XM717 | |
| Hawker Hart II | J9941 | |
| Hawker Hurricane I | P2617 | |
| Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.2B | XW547 | |
| Hawker Siddeley Gnat T.1 | XR977 | |
| Hawker Tempest V | NV778 | |
| Hawker Typhoon IB | MN235 | |
| Heinkel He 111 H-20 | 701152 | |
| Heinkel He 162 A-2 | VN679 | |
| Hunting Percival Pembroke C.1 | WV746 | |
| Junkers Ju 87 G-2 | 494083 | |
| Kawasaki Ki-100 | — | |
| Lockheed F-35 Full Scale Model | BAPC.341 | |
| Lockheed Hudson IIIA | A16-199 | |
| Lockheed WC-130E Hercules | 64-0553 | |
| McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2 | XV424 | |
| Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 | 4101/DG200 | |
| Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4 | 730301 | |
| Messerschmitt Me 163B-1a Komet | 191614 | |
| Mitsubishi Ki-46 ‘Dinah’ | n/a | |
| North American Harvard IIB | FE905 | |
| North American P-51D Mustang | 413317 | |
| Panavia Tornado GR.1B | ZA457 | |
| Republic Thunderbolt II | KL216 | |
| Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2b Replica | 687 | |
| Royal Aircraft Factory F.E.2b Replica | A6526 | |
| Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 Replica | 'A3930' | |
| Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 A | F938 | |
| Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer CC.2 | XL993 | |
| SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1 | XX824 | |
| Short Stirling III (tail section) | LK488 | |
| Short Sunderland MR.5 | ML824 | |
| Sikorsky R-4 | KL110 / KK995 | |
| Slingsby T-31B Cadet TX.3 C/N 844 | XA302 | |
| Sopwith Dolphin 5F1 | C3988 | |
| Sopwith F1 Camel | F6314 | |
| Sopwith Snipe | 'E6655' | |
| Sopwith Triplane | N5912 | |
| Supermarine Southampton | N9899 | |
| Supermarine Spitfire F.24 | PK724 | |
| Supermarine Spitfire I | X4590 | |
| Supermarine Spitfire Vb | BL614 | |
| Supermarine Spitfire XVI | RW393 wears TB675 | |
| Supermarine Stranraer | 920 | |
| Taylorcraft Auster I | LB264 | |
| Vickers FB5 "Gunbus" Replica | 2345 | |
| Westland Belvedere HC.1 | XG474 | |
| Westland Gazelle HT.3 | XW855 | |
| Westland Sea King HAR.3 | XZ585 | |
| Westland Wessex HCC.4 | XV732 | |
| Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka | n/a |
Show all 87 airframes
Inventory last verified 2026-07-18: source 1 · source 2 · source 3. Aircraft move between sites; report corrections to the compiler.
Location & contact
- Address
- Grahame Park Way, London NW9 5LL
- Phone
- 020 8205 2266
- Website
- www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/
- Hours
- Daily 10am–5pm
(from your local clock — verify before travel) - Gazetteer
- LD-01 on the situation map