Aircraft & Exhibits
Aircraft and Exhibits
Museum Aircraft and Exhibits
The museum has a large number of exhibits, including complete aircraft as well as a range of historical artifacts.
DH 98 Mosquito
The fast, high-flying Mosquito was for much of the War able to roam almost at will over enemy-occupied territory. Built of non-strategic materials (i.e. wood), it was designed for speed and range as a two-seat unarmed light bomber, unarmed reconnaissance aircraft and long range fighter.
Airspeed Horsa
The Airspeed Horsa carried two pilots, and 25 or more troops or loads like a jeep and anti-tank gun. It had a cylindrical plywood fuselage, a high wing with very large flaps, and jettisonable main undercarriage, the glider then landing on a central skid and the nosewheel.
British Aerospace BAe 146-100
The BAe 146 was built by British Aerospace as a short-haul airliner/regional jet. The BAe 146 has a high monoplane wing with a T-tail configuration and four turbofan engines. A total of 221 were built between 1983 and 1992.
de Havilland DH106 Comet 1A
The de Havilland DH106 ‘Comet’ was the World’s first turbojet-powered airliner, designed and built at Hatfield and first flown by John Cunningham in 1949.
de Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapide
The DH89A Dragon Rapide is an all-wood, twin-engine biplane passenger aircraft. The first flight of the prototype was from Hatfield by Hubert Broad on 17th April 1934. The first operator was Hillman Airways from Maylands Airport at Romford, their first aircraft G-ACPM making its debut at Hatfield on 13 July 1934 when Hubert Broad averaged 158 mph in the King’s Cup Air Race, before having to retire due to hail damage.
de Havilland DH100 Vampire FB.6
Designed at Salisbury Hall, and built and first flown at Hatfield in 1943, the Vampire single-seat fighter was the first de Havilland jet aircraft. It is of compact pod and twin-boom design, with a single DH Goblin centrifugal turbojet behind the cockpit, fed by wing-root air intakes. Given the modest thrust of the early turbojets, this configuration offered short intake ducts and jet pipe, for minimum propulsive losses, and with the hot exhaust passing below the tailplane. The rear engine freed nose space for a retractable tricycle undercarriage, giving an excellent forward view for the pilot, the raised tail avoiding jet exhaust damage to airfield turf and tarmac.
de Havilland DH112 Sea Venom FAW.22
Designed and built at Hatfield and first flown in 1949, the DH112 Venom single-seat fighter was a progressive development of the Vampire. It had a fatter fuselage ‘pod’ to take the much larger, higher thrust DH Ghost engine, and a thinner wing (10% instead of 14%) with 17 degree leading-edge sweep for higher critical Mach number. It was the first RAF fighter to have wing-tip fuel tanks, the wing being stressed for combat with these tanks full. The Sea Venom FAW.20, 21 and 22 (Fighter, All-Weather) were successive two-seat radar-equipped variants for the Fleet Air Arm.
de Havilland DH110 Sea Vixen FAW.2
Designed and built at Hatfield, the DH110 land-based two-seat, twin-engined all-weather fighter of 1951 was later adapted as the carrier-based Sea Vixen, the last and most advanced and comple of the de Havilland fighters.
Rolls Royce Merlin Mk 25 (cutaway)
The restored Starboard engine of Mosquito night fighter HJ719 built in 1943 in Hatfield. It is displayed as a “cutaway”. Visitors to the museum can see this engine turn over, and see the pistons, valves and spark plug actions.
de Havilland dh 100 vampire fb5 vv217
The main Vampire production version was the DH Vampire FB.5 fighter bomber (a modified DH Vampire F.3) and this variant was also be the basis for many of the export versions. This aircraft was owned by the Ministry of Supply, but used by de Havilland for test flying. De Havilland test pilot John Derry flying this actual aircraft set a record in the spring of 1949 flying in 45 minutes from Paris to Cannes to win the Coupe Montana Prize, comprising a trophy and 10,000 francs. De Havilland was hoping this event would influence the Armee de l’Air to buy
de Havilland Gnome
The licence built de Havilland Gnome turbine engine was used to power late versions of the Whirlwind helicopter, and two were used in the Wessex helicopter replacing piston engines.
de Havilland Gyron
The Gyron was designed in 1951 by de Havilland as a private venture supersonic turbojet. The Gyron was first run in a test bed on 5th January 1953. Flight tests began in 1955 in a Short Sperrin under a Ministry of Supply contract. The engine was never put into production, losing out to the Bristol Siddeley/Rolls-Royce Olympus.
de Havilland Spectre Rocket
The Spectre rocket engine was designed to be the boost engine in a mixed power plant jet interceptor, allowing the aircraft to climb rapidly to high altitude to intercept high flying bombers.