The Wight Aviation Museum – based at Sandown Airport – is ready for its Grand Opening on the weekend of Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th April.
Over the last 5 years, an empty hangar has been transformed – through the efforts of a dedicated team of volunteers – into a viable and interesting museum.
Not only will there be displays of aviation and heritage artefacts in the museum, but also the museum will be telling the stories of real people. This includes Robert Lorraine, who was a famous actor and aviator – reputedly the first person to land an aircraft on the Isle of Wight.
The late Mary Ellis, the well-known Second World War pilot who flew Spitfires and many other types of aircraft with the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), is also celebrated.
The displays at the museum include the Early Years of Wight Aviation, the Princess Flying Boat and the anatomy of a Spitfire, looking at the design and construction of Britain’s most iconic WW2 fighter plane, including a fuselage frame from a 1940s plane.
One of the museum’s larger displays is the fuselage of a Scottish Aviation Beagle Bulldog, which has been creatively converted into a very realistic virtual reality flight simulator, which – using the aircraft’s control column, rudder pedals and throttle –allows visitors the thrill of a virtual flight around the Island.
Outside, in the Rocket Garden is the museum’s largest exhibit, a full-size replica of the Black Arrow R3 Rocket, which was designed, built and tested at Highdown – near the Needles – on the Isle of Wight. It successfully launched the Prospero satellite into a low earth orbit in October 1971 from Woomera, Australia. A full-size replica of the Prospero satellite can be seen in the “Black Arrow Rocket & Space” display in the museum.
The Grand Opening of the museum will be open to all visitors. Entrance is by donation, with an expected donation of £4.00 per person.
Black Arrow was designed and built mainly in East Cowes; its engine was tested at Highdown but the craft flew only from Woomera.
An “expected donation” sounds like a charge, the very thing I imagine they are trying to avoid. Perhaps IWE means a “suggested donation”?