HOME   ARTICLES   ABOUT US   LINKS   SPECIAL DEALS   CONTACT

Bargain Travel Europe guide to Europe on a budget for vacation destinations, travel ideas and secret spots missed by travel tours.

Where can you go to see a Messerschmitt 109, Supermarine Spitfire, Handley Page Halifax bomber and a nuclear hydrogen bomb all in the same place? The Yorkshire Air Museum on the former Bomber Command RAF base at Elvington a few miles from the city of York in Yorkshire is recognized as one of Europe’s best aviation history museums. The collection on display ranges from Sir George Cayley’s 1853 man carrying glider, one of the world’s first manned flight vehicles, to a DeHavilland Mosquito Night Fighter, a replica of a rare Hurricane "Battle of Britain" fighter, to modern jets like the Harrier and Tornado. Also on display are a number of bombs that were at one time loaded onto the planes which sortied over Europe in WWII and the Cold War, including a Bouncing Bomb “Dambuster” which skipped on the ground or water to impact fortifications to bombs from the atomic age.

What’s perhaps more unique at the Yorkshire Air Museum is the preserved buildings of the WWII era airbase for a journey back to the days of daily bomber runs across the channel to the heart of Germany’s industrial Ruhr Valley (See Secrets) and later Berlin, remaining much as it was. Originally home to 77 Squadron RAF of number 4 Bomber Group, the entire museum is now a memorial to the French, Canadian and Australian services that all were based at one time in the Elvington area. Unique to RAF Elvington is that it was the only airfield in England entirely operated by French flyers in the later years of World War Two. Yorkshire's aircraft displays are not as big as the Duxford Air Museum to the south, but maintains a more authentic WWII era feel.

The buildings include a restored Control Tower, Officer’s Mess, RAF Regiment Airman’s Billet barracks, uniform display room, and an Air Gunners memorial room, perhaps the only one of its kind in the world, where docents who actually flew in the belly of the bomber beasts will explain the turret gunners techniques and a few stories of survival as well. There is also a memorial to the Women who served valiantly in the air corps. In downtown York look for the local Bettys Cafe where the bomber crews signed the Bettys mirror in the basement bar (see Bettys Cafe Harrogate). And in the York Minster look for the astromomical clock dedicated to the WWII Airmen of Yorkshire (see York Minster Astronomical Clock).

The old airfield at Elvington was overgrown with weeds and neglect in the 1983’s when a dedicated group of volunteers began the work to restore and upgrade the buildings to much as it was in 1944. The Yorkshire Air Museum was born and the displays have been in a constant state of growth ever since. The museum is open every day except Christmas and Boxing Day and holds a number of aviation events throughout the year including a Battle of Britain Sunday in September. The Yorkshire Air Museum is located off the A64 Leeds-York Bypass northeast of York center.

And on a visit you may hear the screaming roar of a Formula One Grand Prix Racing engine as the old airstrip, one of the longest in northern England, on the other side of the trees blocking its view is used as a secret testing facility for Renault’s F1 team cars. © Bargain Travel Europe

Find the best hotel deals in York at TripAdvisor

Web Info
Yorkshire Air Museum

These articles are copyrighted and the sole property of Bargain Travel Europe and WLPV, LLC. and may not be copied or reprinted without permission.

See Also:

CASTLE HOWARD

NORTH YORKSHIRE MOORS STEAM RAILROAD

RIPLEY CASTLE AND BOARS HEAD INN

LAKELAND MOTOR MUSEUM

SECRET NUCLEAR WAR BUNKER - CHESHIRE

Privacy
Legal
Contact

Discover Travel in Europe on a Budget with Bargain Travel Europe ©2006-2010 Winged Lion Entertainment Ventures, LLC