South into Northamptonshire
Harrington Aviation Museum → Sywell Aviation Museum
Harrington then Sywell, 12 miles apart; secret war, then a 1928 aerodrome.
Distances are straight-line miles from Leicester city centre; roads add a quarter to a half. Prices are adult admission from the gazetteer survey.
Nearest first
Aviation museums within 30 miles of Leicester
| Museum | Miles | Adult entry | Airframes | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Midlands AeroparkDerby, Leicestershire | 16.1 | £5 | 35 | East Midlands Aeropark: a Vulcan, Nimrod R1 and Buccaneer parked on grassy mounds overlooking EMA's runway — half museum, half premier… |
| Harrington Aviation MuseumNorthampton, Northamptonshire | 19.6 | £8 | — | Harrington was Station 179, home of the 'Carpetbaggers' — black-painted B-24s dropping agents and supplies to the Resistance by… |
| Rolls Royce Heritage TrustDerby, Derbyshire | 21.7 | By appointment | 1 | The Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust's Derby collection: the jet engine's family tree in the metal, from Eagle to Trent, toured by people who… |
| Midland Air MuseumCoventry, Warwickshire | 23.1 | £11 | 66 | Vulcan XL360 with cockpit access and volunteer-led tours (ask for the instrumentation talk), plus the Whittle jet heritage collection a… |
| Hucknall Flight Test MuseumNottingham, Nottinghamshire | 26.7 | By appointment | 3 | Hucknall Flight Test Museum, on the aerodrome where Rolls-Royce flew testbeds from 1934 (and hoisted the Flying Bedstead into history),… |
| Sywell Aviation MuseumNorthampton, Northamptonshire | 27.5 | Free | 5 | Sywell Aviation Museum: a POW-hut-sized, free museum on Britain's loveliest Art Deco aerodrome, where resident Spitfires and a Mustang… |
| King's Cliffe Airfield MuseumPeterborough, Northamptonshire | 28.4 | Free | — | King's Cliffe (20th FG) opened its purpose-built museum near the hangar base where Glenn Miller played his final airfield concert — new,… |
From the city
Days out from Leicester
Harrington, 20 miles south via Market Harborough, is the Carpetbagger base that flew agents into occupied Europe. The strongest collection is the Midland Air Museum, 23 miles south-west via the M69. Sywell and King's Cliffe, both free, are near the edge of range, as is Hucknall.
M69 to Coventry
Midland Air Museum
Forty minutes down the M69; Whittle and Armstrong Whitworth fill a day.
North on the M1
East Midlands Aeropark → Rolls Royce Heritage Trust
Aeropark first, then Derby by appointment; aircraft, then the engines that powered them.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the nearest aviation museum to Leicester?
East Midlands Aeropark. It is about 16 miles north, by East Midlands Airport.
Is there a free aviation museum near Leicester?
Yes. Sywell Aviation Museum (about 27 miles) and King's Cliffe Airfield Museum (about 28 miles) are free to enter in our July 2026 price snapshot.
What is the best aviation museum near Leicester?
The Midland Air Museum at Coventry, about 23 miles away, has the largest collection in range. Harrington is closer and tells a stranger story.