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
South East England: museums with Second World War aircraft
| Museum | Second World War airframes | Adult entry | Airframes | Examples | Headline exhibit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wings Aviation MuseumHaywards Heath, West Sussex | 19 | £13 | 25 | Douglas A-20 Havoc (composite) 41-19393 Douglas B-26K Invader nose section 64-17657 Douglas C-47A Skytrain fuselage/nose 42-100611 |
The Wings Museum near Balcombe displays Eastern Front and D-Day aircraft archaeology in crash-site dioramas — raw, unpolished and… |
| Army Flying MuseumStockbridge, Hampshire | 12 | £18 | 43 | General Aircraft Hotspur II composite replica HH379 General Aircraft Hamilcar I forward fuselage TK777 Airspeed Horsa I fuselage LH208 |
Middle Wallop's Army Flying Museum covers everything the Army has flown from observation balloons to Apaches, with superb dioramas and a… |
| Kent Battle of Britain Museum TrustFolkestone, Kent | 5 | £12 | 8 | CASA 2.111B (Heinkel He 111) B.2I-103 Bristol Bolingbroke / Blenheim composite North American Harvard IIB FX442 |
Hawkinge is hallowed turf: the closest fighter station to France in 1940, now the Kent Battle of Britain Museum with the world's largest… |
| Tangmere Military Aviation MuseumChichester, West Sussex | 5 | £15 | 23 | Supermarine Spitfire prototype replica K5054 Supermarine Spitfire IX cockpit replica Hawker Hurricane I replica L1679 |
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;… |
| Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum, ManstonRamsgate, Kent | 3 | Free | 3 | Supermarine Spitfire LF.XVIe TB752 Supermarine Spitfire Ia cockpit P9337 Hawker Hurricane IIc LF751 |
Free-entry memorial museum holding Spitfire TB752 and Hurricane LF751 plus a dense Manston story — the emergency runway where crippled… |
| Lashenden Air Warfare MuseumAshford, Kent | 2 | £3 | 2 | Fieseler Fi 103R-4 Reichenberg 6/2080 Focke-Achgelis Fa 330A-1 100549 |
At Headcorn (Lashenden) aerodrome: a compact air-warfare museum whose crown piece is a Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg — the piloted V-1 —… |
| Romney Marsh Wartime CollectionRomney Marsh, Kent | 2 | £8 | 5 | Douglas Dakota C.4 nose section KN274 Hawker Hurricane I forward fuselage V7350 |
The Romney Marsh Wartime Collection at Brenzett: a former Women's Land Army hostel stuffed with locally dug aircraft archaeology from the… |
| Solent SkySouthampton, Hampshire | 2 | £14 | 23 | Supermarine Spitfire F.24 PK683 Short Sandringham 4 VH-BRC |
Supermarine S.6A N248, the 1929 Schneider Trophy racer from the bloodline that begat the Spitfire — parked beneath its descendant for… |
| RAF Manston History MuseumRamsgate, Kent | 1 | £7 | 22 | Taylorcraft Auster V RT486 | 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… |
| Shoreham Aircraft MuseumSevenoaks, Kent | 1 | £5 | 1 | Junkers Ju 88A-1 cockpit section | A Battle of Britain museum in a Shoreham village high street, grown from one man's crash-site digs, with a 1940s tea room whose bread… |
The era
Second World War, 1939–1945
Wings Aviation Museum near Haywards Heath has the most, ten, including C-47 and B-25 noses. The Army Flying Museum keeps Horsa fuselage LH208. The Kent Battle of Britain Museum holds a Bf 109E-4 wreck and a Spanish-built He 111. The Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum at Manston has Spitfire TB752 and Hurricane LF751. Lashenden keeps the piloted V-1, the Fi 103R Reichenberg.
- The two Manston museums share a site; the Spitfire & Hurricane museum is free.
- The Kent Battle of Britain Museum does not allow photography inside.
- Lashenden opens on weekend afternoons in season.
What to see
Second World War types on display in South East England
1935Douglas C-47 Dakota21935Hawker Hurricane51935Bristol Blenheim11935North American Harvard11935Messerschmitt Bf 10911936Handley Page Hampden11936Junkers Ju 88 & Heinkel He 11121936Fieseler Storch11936Supermarine Spitfire51936Westland Lysander11937Mitsubishi Zero & Nakajima Kate11937Short Sunderland11938Douglas A-20, A-26 & Martin B-2621938Bristol Beaufort11939Bristol Beaufighter11939Taylorcraft Auster51940North American B-25 Mitchell21940Douglas Skyraider & Curtiss Helldiver11940Hawker Typhoon & Tempest21940General Aircraft Hotspur & Hamilcar21941Avro Lancaster11942Bell P-63 Kingcobra51942Airspeed Horsa & Waco Hadrian41942Hafner Rotachute & Rotabuggy21942Fieseler Fi 103 (V-1)11942Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 & Flettner Fl 2821
Questions
Frequently asked
Where can I see Battle of Britain aircraft in Kent?
Manston (Spitfire TB752, Hurricane LF751), the Kent Battle of Britain Museum near Folkestone, and Romney Marsh, with Hurricane V7350’s forward fuselage.
Where can I see a Horsa glider?
The Army Flying Museum at Middle Wallop has Horsa I fuselage LH208 and replica sections.
Which South East museum has the most Second World War aircraft?
Wings Aviation Museum, with ten, followed by the Army Flying Museum with eight.