Museums are ranked by how many Cold War airframes their inventories list, cockpits and replicas included. Each museum page has the full checklist.
Where to go
East of England: museums with Cold War aircraft
| Museum | Cold War airframes | Adult entry | Airframes | Examples | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IWM DuxfordCambridge, Cambridgeshire | 32 | £29 | 146 | Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck Mk.4B 18393 BAC TSR.2 XR222 BAC Concorde 101 G-AXDN |
Concorde 101 (G-AXDN), the pre-production development aircraft and the fastest Concorde of them all at Mach 2.23 — plus an SR-71A… |
| City of Norwich Aviation MuseumNorwich, Norfolk | 15 | £9 | 33 | Avro RJ85 EI-RJN Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR.2 XV255 Handley Page Herald 211 G-ASKK |
City of Norwich Aviation Museum at Horsham St Faith: Norfolk's largest, ~30 airframes including a Vulcan and Nimrod with bookable… |
| Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation MuseumBungay, Suffolk | 12 | £10 | 65 | Lovegrove Discord autogyro BAPC.306 Benson B-7 gyroglider Lovegrove Sheffy autogyro G-CDFW |
Depends who you ask — the joy is the oddities. Come for the Bloodhound missiles and decoy rarities; stay for volunteer flight-simulator… |
| Bentwaters Cold War MuseumWoodbridge, Suffolk | 5 | £7.50 | 9 | BAe Harrier GR.3 ZD667 English Electric Lightning F.53 ZF581 Fairchild A-10A Thunderbolt II 80-0219 |
Bentwaters Cold War Museum occupies the actual USAF hardened command post — war room, battle cabin and decontamination showers intact —… |
| RAF Air Defence Radar MuseumNorwich, Norfolk | 3 | £14 | 3 | SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1A cockpit section XX979 Panavia Tornado F.3 cockpit section ZE936 English Electric Lightning F.2A nose section XN795 |
The original 1942 Ground Controlled Interception room and its Cold War successor: Britain's actual air-defence nervous system, in situ,… |
| RAF Coltishall Heritage CentreNorwich, Norfolk | 3 | Free | 5 | SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1 XZ384 SEPECAT Jaguar S (composite, under restoration) XW563 English Electric Lightning T.5 cockpit section XS421 |
RAF Coltishall's guardroom museum, curated by veterans of the base — the Jaguar force's spiritual home, free to enter on open days, with… |
| RAF Sculthorpe Heritage CentreFakenham, Norfolk | 1 | £2.50 | 2 | Northrop F-5E Tiger II full-size replica | Sculthorpe: North Norfolk's atomic secret — 10,000 Americans and nuclear-alert B-45s in the 1950s — remembered in a heritage centre with… |
The era
Cold War, 1957–1989
IWM Duxford has 31 Cold War airframes, including TSR-2 XR222, Concorde 101 G-AXDN and Lightning F.1 XM135. The City of Norwich Aviation Museum has 12, among them Nimrod MR.2 XV255. Bentwaters keeps A-10A 80-0219 and Phantom FGR.2 XV401 on the base. The Neatishead radar museum preserves its Cold War operations rooms.
- The City of Norwich Aviation Museum, Coltishall and Neatishead are within 9 miles of each other.
- Bentwaters opens on limited days; its hardened-shelter tours are paid extras.
- The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum has ten Cold War airframes, including Lightning F.1 XG329.
What to see
Cold War types on display in East of England
1949Fairey Gannet11951de Havilland Sea Vixen21952Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck11952Boeing B-52 Stratofortress11953The light rotary flock31954English Electric Lightning71955Lockheed U-211955Handley Page Herald & Jetstream11955Fokker F27 Friendship31956Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-2111956Bell UH-1 Huey11956Supermarine Scimitar11957GAF Jindivik & the target drones11958Westland Wessex21958Blackburn Buccaneer21958McDonnell Douglas Phantom51959Westland Scout & Wasp11959Northrop F-511960Harrier family31961General Dynamics F-11111962Vickers VC1011962Hawker Siddeley Trident11963BAC Strikemaster & Bulldog11963BAC One-Eleven11964BAC TSR.211964Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird11965Britten-Norman Islander & Trislander11967Hawker Siddeley Nimrod11968SEPECAT Jaguar81969Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde11969Westland Sea King11969FMA IA 58 Pucará21971Westland Lynx11972Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II21972McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle11973Colomban Cri-Cri & the homebuilt shelf31974Panavia Tornado31981British Aerospace 1462
Questions
Frequently asked
Where can I see an A-10 in the UK?
Bentwaters Cold War Museum in Suffolk has A-10A 80-0219, on a former A-10 base.
Where can I see TSR-2 in the East?
XR222 is at IWM Duxford. The other survivor, XR220, is at Cosford.
Is the Coltishall museum free?
Yes. RAF Coltishall Heritage Centre is free and has Jaguar GR.1 XZ384.