Museums are ranked by how many early jet airframes their inventories list, cockpits and replicas included. Each museum page has the full checklist.
Where to go
South East England: museums with early jet aircraft
| Museum | early jet airframes | Adult entry | Airframes | Examples | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Gliding Heritage CentreAlton, Hampshire | 34 | Donation | 72 | Slingsby T.8 Kirby Tutor G-ALPE Slingsby T.30A Kirby Prefect G-ALLF Slingsby T.34 Sky BGA.698 |
Lasham's Gliding Heritage Centre: Europe's finest vintage-glider collection, most of them airworthy and actually flown, with free… |
| Tangmere Military Aviation MuseumChichester, West Sussex | 11 | £15 | 23 | de Havilland Vampire T.11 XH313 Gloster Meteor F.4 EE549 Hawker Hunter F.3 WB188 |
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;… |
| Army Flying MuseumStockbridge, Hampshire | 10 | £18 | 43 | de Havilland Canada Chipmunk T.10 WG432 Bristol Sycamore HR.14 XG502 Saunders-Roe Skeeter AOP.12 XL813 |
Middle Wallop's Army Flying Museum covers everything the Army has flown from observation balloons to Apaches, with superb dioramas and a… |
| RAF Manston History MuseumRamsgate, Kent | 10 | £7 | 22 | Avro Vulcan B.1 nose XA893 Canadair CT-133 Silver Star G-BYOY de Havilland Chipmunk T.10 WP772 |
RAF Manston's history museum spans 1916 RNAS days to Cold War Meteors, with strong 1940s room-sets — and it sits next door to the… |
| Solent SkySouthampton, Hampshire | 10 | £14 | 23 | Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 TG263 Supermarine Swift F.4 cockpit section (procedures trainer) Supermarine Swift F.7 XF114 |
Supermarine S.6A N248, the 1929 Schneider Trophy racer from the bloodline that begat the Spitfire — parked beneath its descendant for… |
| Gatwick Aviation MuseumGatwick, Surrey | 8 | £12.50 | 16 | Avro Shackleton MR.3 WR982 Percival Sea Prince T.1 WP308 de Havilland Venom FB.50 J-1605 |
Avro Shackleton WR982 (the £5 guided tour is unanimously endorsed) and a live-engined English Electric Lightning. There's also… |
| Trenchard MuseumAylesbury, Buckinghamshire | 6 | By appointment | 6 | Slingsby Cadet TX.1 RA905 Slingsby Grasshopper TX.1 WZ772 de Havilland Chipmunk T.10 WB626 |
The Trenchard Museum at RAF Halton tells the story of the RAF's apprentice scheme — 'Trenchard's Brats' — on the working base where… |
| Farnborough Air Sciences Trust MuseumFarnborough, Hampshire | 4 | Free | 16 | Hawker Hunter T.7 WV383 Hawker Hunter T.7 XL563 English Electric Canberra B(I).6 nose WT309 |
FAST at Farnborough guards the birthplace of British aviation science — Cody, the RAE, wind tunnels — with sit-in Harrier, Puma and Lynx… |
| Robertsbridge Aviation SocietyRobertsbridge, East Sussex | 4 | Free | 6 | Gloster Meteor T.7 nose WA630 English Electric Canberra PR.3 nose WE173 Hawker Hunter F.2 nose WN907 |
Robertsbridge Aviation Society — a village-hall-sized museum of recovered WWII relics and six jet cockpit sections, curated with… |
| Romney Marsh Wartime CollectionRomney Marsh, Kent | 3 | £8 | 5 | English Electric Canberra B.2 nose section WH657 English Electric Canberra PR.9 nose section XH136 de Havilland Vampire T.11 XK625 |
The Romney Marsh Wartime Collection at Brenzett: a former Women's Land Army hostel stuffed with locally dug aircraft archaeology from the… |
| Wings Aviation MuseumHaywards Heath, West Sussex | 3 | £13 | 25 | de Havilland Canada Chipmunk T.10 WD377 English Electric Canberra TT.18 nose section WK127 Hunting Jet Provost T.3 nose section XM468 |
The Wings Museum near Balcombe displays Eastern Front and D-Day aircraft archaeology in crash-site dioramas — raw, unpolished and… |
| Kent Battle of Britain Museum TrustFolkestone, Kent | 1 | £12 | 8 | Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 tail section VW589 | Hawkinge is hallowed turf: the closest fighter station to France in 1940, now the Kent Battle of Britain Museum with the world's largest… |
| Wight Aviation MuseumSandown, Isle of Wight | 1 | Free | 2 | Saunders-Roe Skeeter AOP.12 XL765 | Free volunteer-run museum on Sandown airfield covering the Island's surprising aviation industry — including a full-size Black Arrow… |
The era
Early jet age, 1943–1957
WB188 is at Tangmere, among 11 airframes of the period there. Solent Sky has the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 jet flying boat TG263 and Swift F.7 XF114. RAF Manston History Museum has ten, including a Vulcan B.1 nose. Gatwick Aviation Museum runs the engines of Shackleton WR982. The Gliding Heritage Centre adds 27 gliders of the same years.
- Gatwick Aviation Museum’s engine-run days are its main draw; check dates.
- Robertsbridge keeps four jet nose sections and opens on open days only.
- The Trenchard Museum is on an active RAF station; arrange access in advance.
What to see
Early jet age types on display in South East England
1943de Havilland Vampire31943Gloster Meteor61944Hawker Sea Fury11945Bell 47 / Sioux21945Cessna, Piper & the American light aircraft11945de Havilland Dove family11946de Havilland Canada Chipmunk61947EoN Olympia & the Elliotts gliders71947Bristol Sycamore11947de Havilland Canada Beaver21947Saunders-Roe SR.A/111947Hawker Sea Hawk11948Slingsby glider family341948Supermarine Swift31948Saunders-Roe Skeeter51948Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star11948Percival Pembroke & Sea Prince11949English Electric Canberra81949de Havilland Venom & Sea Venom21949Avro Shackleton11950Percival Provost11951Hawker Hunter81952Avro Vulcan11952Handley Page Victor11954Hunting Jet Provost31955Folland Gnat4
Questions
Frequently asked
Where is Neville Duke’s record Hunter?
Hunter F.3 WB188 is at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum near Chichester.
Which South East museum has the most early jet-age aircraft?
The Gliding Heritage Centre, with 27 gliders. For jets, Tangmere has 11 and Solent Sky ten.
Where can I see a Shackleton in the South East?
Shackleton MR.3 WR982 is at Gatwick Aviation Museum, which runs its engines.