About this museum
RAF Tangmere was a frontline Battle of Britain station and, later, the shadowy departure lounge for SOE Lysander flights into occupied France. The museum on the old base is enthusiast-built and proud of it — less white-cube, more squadron scrapbook with jet aircraft attached — and its speed-record gallery holds genuine crown jewels of British test flying.
Hawker Hunter WB188 in one-off scarlet, in which Neville Duke took the world air speed record to 727.63 mph off this coast in 1953; alongside the record-breaking Meteor and a Swift with similar form.
- Hunter WB188 — 727.63 mph world record, 1953
- Meteor EE549 — 1946 world record holder
- Swift WK198 world-record fuselage
Ex-RAF volunteers, simulators kids can actually fly, and frequent 'we met a veteran' moments in reviews. Bus 55 from Chichester if you're car-free.
“Had such a fantastic visit to the RAF Museum!”— Urvashi, visitor report
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 | |
|---|---|---|
| de Havilland Canada Chipmunk T.10 WZ876 | — | |
| de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.2 XJ580 | — | |
| de Havilland Vampire T.11 XH313 | — | |
| English Electric Canberra B.2 WE113 | — | |
| English Electric Lightning F.53 ZF578 | — | |
| Gloster Meteor F.4 EE549 | — | |
| Hawker Hunter F.3 WB188 | — | |
| Hawker Hunter F.4 WV332 | — | |
| Hawker Hunter F.5 WP190 | — | |
| Hawker Hurricane – replica | — | |
| Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.3 XV744 | — | |
| McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2 XV408 | — | |
| Percival Provost T.1 XF840 | — | |
| Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5A – replica | — | |
| Supermarine Spitfire IX – under construction | — | |
| Supermarine Spitfire K5054 – replica | — | |
| Supermarine Swift FR.5 WK281 | — | |
| Westland Lysander – replica | — | |
| Westland Wessex HU.5 XS511 | — |
Inventory researched 2026-07-18: source 1. Aircraft move between sites; report corrections to the compiler.
Location & contact
- Address
- Gamecock Terrace, Tangmere, Chichester PO20 2ES
- Phone
- 01243 790090
- Website
- www.tangmere-museum.org.uk/
- Hours
- Daily 10am–5pm (Mar–Oct)
(from your local clock — verify before travel) - Gazetteer
- SE-03 on the situation map