Museums are ranked by how many Second World War airframes their inventories list, cockpits and replicas included. Each museum page has the full checklist.
Where to go
Midlands & Lincolnshire: museums with Second World War aircraft
| Museum | Second World War airframes | Adult entry | Airframes | Examples | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Air Force Museum MidlandsShifnal, Shropshire | 20 | Free | 78 | Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina L-866 Boulton Paul Defiant I N1671 Hawker Hurricane IIc LF738 |
TSR-2 XR220, one of two survivors of the most gifted aircraft Britain ever cancelled, sharing floor space with the stainless-steel… |
| Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight Visitors CentreLincoln, Lincolnshire | 9 | £12.50 | 11 | Avro Lancaster B.I PA474 Supermarine Spitfire IIa P7350 Supermarine Spitfire Vb AB910 |
Lancaster PA474 — one of only two airworthy Lancasters on Earth — when she's home (she periodically visits Duxford for deep maintenance,… |
| Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage CentreSpilsby, Lincolnshire | 9 | £13.50 | 11 | Avro Lancaster B.VII 'Just Jane' (taxiing) NX611 de Havilland Mosquito NF.II (running) HJ711 North American TB-25N Mitchell 44-29366 |
Lancaster NX611 (taxiing now, returning to flight one day, they swear) and Mosquito NF.II HJ711 — the only running Mosquito in Europe.… |
| Midland Air MuseumCoventry, Warwickshire | 4 | £11 | 66 | Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri (partial airframe) 28368 Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V fuselage section N1498 Bristol Beaufighter I cockpit section T5298 |
Vulcan XL360 with cockpit access and volunteer-led tours (ask for the instrumentation talk), plus the Whittle jet heritage collection a… |
| Newark Air MuseumNewark, Nottinghamshire | 3 | £12.50 | 95 | Auster AOP.9 (fuselage and wings, in store) XR268 Avro Lancaster B.I fuselage section W4964 North American Harvard IIB FE930 |
Vulcan XM594, with cockpit tours occasionally given by former Vulcan aircrew, which reviewers describe with the reverence normally… |
| Metheringham Airfield Visitor CentreLincoln, Lincolnshire | 2 | £8 | 2 | Douglas C-47 Dakota III KG651 Avro Lancaster forward fuselage replica ('Léon's Lancaster') |
Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre (106 Squadron Lancasters) has original ration-book atmosphere plus a fully restored Dakota you can… |
| Thorpe Camp Visitor CentreLincoln, Lincolnshire | 2 | £7 | 5 | Avro Lancaster nose and cockpit mock-up Auster AOP.5 (under restoration) RT520 |
Thorpe Camp preserves RAF Woodhall Spa's communal site — home of 617 Squadron post-Dams — as a period village of huts, with volunteers in… |
| East Midlands AeroparkDerby, Leicestershire | 1 | £5 | 35 | Auster T.7 (mated to Auster AOP.6 fuselage, under restoration) WE558 | East Midlands Aeropark: a Vulcan, Nimrod R1 and Buccaneer parked on grassy mounds overlooking EMA's runway — half museum, half premier… |
| Polish Bomber Squadrons Centre, RAF InghamGainsborough, Lincolnshire | 1 | £8 | 1 | Avro Lancaster cockpit replica (full-scale) | RAF Ingham's Polish Bomber Squadrons Centre honours the four Polish squadrons of 1 Group with bilingual displays, a restored Nissen… |
| Sywell Aviation MuseumNorthampton, Northamptonshire | 1 | Free | 5 | North American Harvard cockpit | Sywell Aviation Museum: a POW-hut-sized, free museum on Britain's loveliest Art Deco aerodrome, where resident Spitfires and a Mustang… |
| The Potteries Spitfire Gallery (RW388)Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire | 1 | Free | 1 | Supermarine Spitfire LF.XVIe RW388 | The Potteries Museum's Spitfire Gallery gives RW388 a purpose-built glass hall in Hanley — Stoke's tribute to local boy Reginald Mitchell… |
The era
Second World War, 1939–1945
The RAF Museum at Cosford has 20 Second World War airframes, including Defiant N1671, Lincoln RF398 and Bf 109G-2 10639. East Kirkby runs Lancaster NX611 and Mosquito HJ711. The BBMF visitor centre tours PA474 and its Spitfires, including P7350, a Battle of Britain veteran. Newark has Lancaster fuselage section W4964; Metheringham has Dakota KG651.
- The BBMF visitor centre and Thorpe Camp are 2 miles apart; East Kirkby is 8 miles from the BBMF.
- Cosford is free.
- Stoke-on-Trent’s Potteries Museum shows Spitfire RW388, also free.
What to see
Second World War types on display in Midlands & Lincolnshire
1935Consolidated PBY Catalina11935Hawker Hurricane31935Messerschmitt Bf 10911935Bristol Blenheim21935Douglas C-47 Dakota41935North American Harvard21936Supermarine Spitfire81936Fieseler Storch11936Junkers Ju 88 & Heinkel He 11111936Messerschmitt Bf 110 & Me 41011936Vickers Wellington21936Handley Page Hampden11936Armstrong Whitworth Whitley11937Boulton Paul Defiant11939Focke-Wulf Fw 19011939Percival Proctor11939Bristol Beaufighter11939Taylorcraft Auster41940de Havilland Mosquito21940Hawker Typhoon & Tempest11940North American B-25 Mitchell11940North American P-51 Mustang11941Fairchild Argus11941Avro Lancaster61942Messerschmitt Me 26211942Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 & Flettner Fl 28221942Avro York11944Avro Lincoln1
Questions
Frequently asked
Where can I see a Lancaster in the Midlands?
PA474 at Coningsby and NX611 at East Kirkby. Newark has a fuselage section; Thorpe Camp, Metheringham and Ingham have replicas.
Where can I see a Spitfire in the Midlands?
Cosford has K9942; the BBMF has P7350, AB910 and others; Stoke has RW388.
Which Midlands museum has the most Second World War aircraft?
The RAF Museum Midlands at Cosford, with 20.