RAF. Cosford Shropshire,the UK

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

  

Royal Air Force Cosford or RAF Cosford (formerly DCAE Cosford)[1] (ICAO: EGWC) is a Royal Air Force station in Cosford, Shropshire, just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton.

On 1 May 1979, the Cosford site was opened at RAF Cosford, one of the RAF stations which had been used to store the museum's collection of aircraft. On opening, the museum initially exhibited airframes which had been used for technical training at RAF Cosford. In the following years additional aircraft were added to the collection and in 1980 it was agreed that the British Airways Collection be displayed at Cosford. On 21 June 1998 four additional galleries were opened, housing art, temporary exhibitions and other aviation subjects. 13 May 2002 saw the relocation of the RAF Museum Conservation Centre from Cardington, Bedfordshire to Cosford. The Centre, costing £2.4 million, was opened by Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham and is named after him.

The Cosford site includes several developmental aircraft such as those that led to the English Electric Lightning and the second prototype ofthe BAC TSR-2.

The first Director of the Museum was Dr John Tanner who retired in 1987. In 1988 Dr Michael A Fopp (who had previously directed the London Transport Museum) was appointed and was Director General of all three sites covered by the Museum until his retirement in 2010.

The site can be reached by public transport via the neighbouring Cosford railway station on the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line.

British Airways collection

In 1980, the Cosford site agreed to house the British Airways Museum collection. In 2006 British Airways withdrew funding from the collection, after which the RAF Museum did not take on the costs of maintaining the aircraft. Several of the jet airliners have subsequently been broken up, including the only Boeing 707 that was preserved in the UK, a Vickers VC10 and a Hawker Siddeley Trident.

National Cold War Exhibition

The National Cold War Exhibition

The National Cold War Exhibition opened at Cosford in February 2007. The exhibition houses the museum's V bombers and other Cold War aircraft in a newly constructed 8,000m2 exhibition building designed by architects Fielden Clegg Bradley.[3] The exhibition concept and design was developed by Neal Potter and includes 'silo theatres' which depict, in a variety of media, the key tensions of the Cold War period.

Aircraft on display

The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy C1 on display in Hangar 1

The Mikoyan MiG-15bis on display in the National Cold War Exhibition

Bristol Britannia on external display

The BAC TSR-2 on display in the Test Flight hangar

A Hawker Hurricane II on display in the War in the Air hangar. A selection of armament used by the type is also displayed.

Focke Achgelis FA330

Main article: List of aircraft at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford

Engines on display

The Cosford museum houses a large collection of aero engines, the majority are located in Hangar 1, a small side room of this hangar contains a display of rocket engines.

At a seminal moment in World War II, British Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding (Laurence Olivier) must rally his outnumbered pilots against Hitler's feared Luftwaffe. Besieged by German bombing runs, the Brits counter with an aggressive air campaign of their own. Within months, the Nazis find themselves on the run, thanks to Dowding's tactical genius and the work of talented squadron leaders (Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer) and other brave patriots.