Qualla: Royal Air Force Museum Midlands

Royal Air Force Museum Midlands: Introduction

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0. There are only two surviving prototypes of the BAC TSR-2, the multi-role combat aircraft that the Wilson government cancelled in 1965, and one of them is here in a hangar in Shropshire. Aircrew who never got to fly it still come to look at it. The TSR-2 was meant to be Britain's nuclear strike bomber and tactical reconnaissance aircraft, capable of low-level supersonic penetration on a scale that the Buccaneer and the V-bombers could not match. Three days after the prototype's first test flight, the Treasury found out how much it was going to cost and the project was killed. The airframe at the RAF Museum Midlands is one of the great might-have-beens of British aviation. The museum around it is one of the great free museums of Europe.

Image: Rept0n1x | CC BY-SA 3.0

Royal Air Force Museum Midlands: How the Midlands Site Began

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MilborneOne, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Royal Air Force Museum opened its London site at Colindale on 15 November 1972, when Queen Elizabeth II cut the ribbon on a collection of just 36 aircraft. The rest of the eventual collection was scattered around RAF stations across the country, including a large storage and ...

Image: MilborneOne | CC BY-SA 3.0

Royal Air Force Museum Midlands: Flight Context

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0. Located at 52.64 N, 2.31 W, co-located with RAF Cosford (EGWC) on the eastern edge of the airfield in south-east Shropshire. From 2,500 to 4,000 feet the museum hangars are visible as a cluster of large modern roofs beside the station, with the Wolverhampton-Shrewsbury railway running past. Nearest airports: RAF Cosford (EGWC) on site, RAF Shawbury (EGOS) 14 nm north, Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green (EGBO) 5 nm south-east.

Image: Rept0n1x | CC BY-SA 3.0

Royal Air Force Museum Midlands: The National Cold War Exhibition

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nimbus227, Public domain. The National Cold War Exhibition opened in February 2007 inside an 8,000-square-metre purpose-built building designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The exhibition was conceived and designed by Neal Potter and centres on the unique sight of all three V-bombers, the Vickers Val...

Image: Nimbus227 | Public domain

Royal Air Force Museum Midlands: What Else is Here

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Jasonjsmith assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain. The world's only surviving Boulton Paul Defiant is at Cosford, the unusual British turret-fighter that was a disaster against German fighters in the Battle of Britain and was quickly relegated to night-fighting and target-towing. One of only two surviving Vickers Wellingtons in t...

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Jasonjsmith assumed (based on copyright claims). | Public domain

Royal Air Force Museum Midlands: The Conservation Hangar

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Michael Beetham Conservation Centre is the working heart of the museum. It is where airframes are restored, sometimes over decades, before they go on display in either London or Midlands. The Handley Page Hampden, the LVG C.VI, and the Dornier Do 17 are among the long-term re...

Image: Rept0n1x | CC BY-SA 3.0

Royal Air Force Museum Midlands: Getting There

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rept0n1x, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cosford railway station is right next to the eastern crash gate of RAF Cosford and the museum entrance. The Wolverhampton-to-Shrewsbury line will deliver you for the price of a regional rail ticket, and from the station you walk perhaps five minutes to the museum. Admission has b...

Image: Rept0n1x | CC BY-SA 3.0