Welcome

Welcome to the oldest aviation museum in the UK dedicated to the preservation and display of de Havilland Aircraft. The de Havilland Aircraft Company played an important role in the history of aircraft development in 20th century Britain. The de Havilland company created world beating aeronautical innovations including many iconic aircraft such as the de Havilland Mosquito – “The Wooden Wonder”, the Comet – the world’s first jet airliner, the Tiger Moth – the “backbone “of the RAF’s training aircraft in WWII and the Airspeed Horsa Glider – used extensively by our airborne troops in 1944 during D-Day, Arnhem and the Rhine crossing.

We are a “working museum” where we actively restore de Havilland Aircraft so you are likely to see our volunteers at work, who are always willing to answer your questions.

The de Havilland Aircraft Museum is mostly staffed by unpaid volunteers who perform a wide range of tasks according to their skills.

THE DE HAVILLAND AIRCRAFT MUSEUM IN THE 21^st CENTURY PROJECT

THANKS to money raised by National Lottery players, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a grant of nearly £2 million and funding received from several Trusts and Foundations including The Garfield Weston Trust, The Hobson Charity, The Foyle Foundation, Paul Allen Philanthropies, Barclays Bank and donations from our many supporters, the “de Havilland Aircraft Museum in the 21st Century Project” can now be built. It is a significant investment in Hertfordshire’s aviation heritage and Community facilities.

Official Permission to start from the HLF was given in August and contractors have arrived on site now that  the Museum has closed for the winter from 5^th November until February 2019.

The Project enables the building of a large new hangar at the museum, providing an all-undercover experience for visitors to see a range of historic aircraft designed by the de Havilland Aircraft Company at its Hatfield factory.

Museum chairman Alan Brackley stressed that the museum will be continue to be open to visitors six days a week during 2019 all the time that building is in progress and the need to continue to raise funding to ensure that the project can be completed so please help by making a donation or purchasing a commemorative plaque.

“Visitors will not be inconvenienced in any way whatsoever,” said Mr. Brackley. “All of our Museum will be accessible for visitors to get close to and into several of our military aircraft and civil airliners.”

A feature of the volunteer-run museum is that visitors can see also restoration work being carried out on some of the aircraft, such as the DH.98 Mosquito and DH.106 Comet.

Mr Brackley added: “Thanks to the money raised by the National Lottery players and the many other supporters of the museum the new hangar project will not only safely display several important aircraft exhibits inside the new building away from the rigours of the British weather, but it will be able to offer the local community an exciting venue for meetings, conferences, parties, learning and other social events.

We still need donations to complete the project so please consider making a donation to our New Hangar Fund-your donation will help us continue our work in preserving the de Havilland Heritage”

You can support the Hangar fund by clicking here.

Sir Geoffrey de Havilland Hangar virtual tour

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=gkQaxUt6Fcr