Museums with commercial airliners

[832ark]

I’m trying to find a museum which has some kind of airliner on display that you can board/tour. I’m based in the Midlands but can’t seem to find anything locally. My 4 year old is terrified of planes but we’ve now bitten the bullet and booked a holiday involving flying. I’d like to get her onto a plane beforehand so it’s not a completely alien experience.

Any assistance much appreciated!

[Truckosaurus]

Brooklands have a few (inc. Concorde).

[surveyor]

Manchester airport has a Concorde on the viewing park, and also good for watching takeoff and landing.

[fishermanpaul]

Duxford have a few. (might be close enough depending on where in the Midlands you are)

[832ark]

Thanks chaps!

[irocfan]

Truckosaurus said:

Brooklands have a few (inc. Concorde).

this ^^^ (and it's great for a visit anyway)

[SpeckledJim]

Aerospace Bristol has a Concorde indoors that you can get inside, walk underneath, etc.

Great museum.

Cosford has a LOT of planes, but I don't think they have anything large you can climb inside. Great museum as well though.

[blue_haddock]

I'm fairly certain that there is one at cosford but it may only be open at certain times.

The runway visitor park at manchester has a concorde, a trident and also section of a DC10

[FourWheelDrift]

irocfan said:

Truckosaurus said:

Brooklands have a few (inc. Concorde).

this ^^^ (and it's great for a visit anyway)

Agreed, I went on a quiet day a few years ago and I was the only one inside the Vanguard so the guide inside invited to sit in the captains seat

Concorde (plus the old Heathrow 40% scale Concorde model), 2x VC-10s Omani Royal Aircraft and the VC-10 fuselage from Cosford of the one that did the famous low pass - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqdM9xvxBaA and a very rare Viking. Plus others

And left to right, BAC 1-11 "fly by light", Jetsream (hidden), Vanguard, Omani VC-10, Viscount and Varsity.


They have moved around since then, but they are there.

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Wednesday 6th November 14:47

[Shakermaker]

Has she been on a plane before, or is the fear based on some other factor, such as the noise or what she's seen of them from the outside etc?

Its natural for her to be scared based on all the noise they make if she's never been on one before, but a lot of what you can do to help as well will be around how much fun it is going to be to go on holiday.

There's a few episodes of things like Peppa Pig where she goes on a plane, the kind of stuff aimed towards 4 year olds, or you can do more work as well and play games and just show everything going on, there's loads to see when you're at the airport, might take some of the "scare" factor out of it.

[Europa1]

OP, as someone mentioned Duxford has a few. Bear in mind the effect it may have on you - they'll remind you of the days when airlines gave you space and comfortable seats!

[SpeckledJim]

Might be a daft suggestion, but has she been on a train?

Could be worth a little trip if not.

[832ark]

Shakermaker said:

Has she been on a plane before, or is the fear based on some other factor, such as the noise or what she's seen of them from the outside etc?

Its natural for her to be scared based on all the noise they make if she's never been on one before, but a lot of what you can do to help as well will be around how much fun it is going to be to go on holiday.

There's a few episodes of things like Peppa Pig where she goes on a plane, the kind of stuff aimed towards 4 year olds, or you can do more work as well and play games and just show everything going on, there's loads to see when you're at the airport, might take some of the "scare" factor out of it.

No, she’s never been on one before but was at a point where she was scared of planes at high altitude overhead (not anymore). We made the mistake of taking her to a viewing field for the Cosford air show a couple of years ago which is directly under the flight path a few hundred meters from the end of the runway. It’s epic but noisy, she was fine with the prop driven stuff but the fast jets scared her. Last year we took her round the Cosford museum, I thought maybe if she got up close to some “sleeping” aircraft it might desensitise her. She didn’t like it but it think it worked somewhat. She’s still very much of the opinion that she doesn’t want to go on a plane though so I want to try and make her feel slightly more comfortable when she does go on one for real.

[Shakermaker]

832ark said:

No, she’s never been on one before but was at a point where she was scared of planes at high altitude overhead (not anymore). We made the mistake of taking her to a viewing field for the Cosford air show a couple of years ago which is directly under the flight path a few hundred meters from the end of the runway. It’s epic but noisy, she was fine with the prop driven stuff but the fast jets scared her. Last year we took her round the Cosford museum, I thought maybe if she got up close to some “sleeping” aircraft it might desensitise her. She didn’t like it but it think it worked somewhat. She’s still very much of the opinion that she doesn’t want to go on a plane though so I want to try and make her feel slightly more comfortable when she does go on one for real.

Which airport are you due to fly from, and with which airline?

But I can understand that having stood udnerneath a fast jet at an airshow its going to be hard to make her understand that actually hopping onto an Airbus isn't quite the same thing, but I think its worth starting your process as being more about the journey and the experience more than the actual mode of transport going to be used, just as a starting point.

[irocfan]

does she like Disney? Could be a good way to 'bribe' her - MM/princess/etc can be found after a plane trip?

[832ark]

Shakermaker said:

832ark said:

No, she’s never been on one before but was at a point where she was scared of planes at high altitude overhead (not anymore). We made the mistake of taking her to a viewing field for the Cosford air show a couple of years ago which is directly under the flight path a few hundred meters from the end of the runway. It’s epic but noisy, she was fine with the prop driven stuff but the fast jets scared her. Last year we took her round the Cosford museum, I thought maybe if she got up close to some “sleeping” aircraft it might desensitise her. She didn’t like it but it think it worked somewhat. She’s still very much of the opinion that she doesn’t want to go on a plane though so I want to try and make her feel slightly more comfortable when she does go on one for real.

Which airport are you due to fly from, and with which airline?

But I can understand that having stood udnerneath a fast jet at an airshow its going to be hard to make her understand that actually hopping onto an Airbus isn't quite the same thing, but I think its worth starting your process as being more about the journey and the experience more than the actual mode of transport going to be used, just as a starting point.

Flying Ryanair out of East Mids, I think we’ll start focusing on the enjoyment to be had the other end. Will definitely try and get her inside Concorde before we go though.

[Eric Mc]

Duxford has a very good airliner collection. Some of them are kept outside and some are inside.

You can get on board some of them but which ones are open is dependent on the number of available volunteers they have on hand on any given day. I managed to get on all of the airliners at Duxford during Flying Legends back in June because they had at least on steward for every aircraft.

I was on board the following -

Trident
BAC 1-11
Britannia
Herald
Viscount
Comet
York
Concorde
Hermes (fuselage only)

At Brooklands you can get on board -

Viscount
Vanguard
VC-10
Concorde

However, you have to pay extra to get on the Concorde as it is part of a "Concorde Experience" package which is not included in the standard entry fee.

Another place that has a couple of airliners you can get on board is the Cornwall Aviation Museum at Newquay Airport (formerly RAF St Mawgan). They have a BAC 1-11 (ex RAE/QinetiQ) and a VC-10. Their VC-10 last saw service as an RAF tanker so it is not like an airliner inside.

Cosford has a few but you cannot board them. Inside they have a Comet 2 and a Junkers Ju52. Outside they have a Britannia.

Sadly, the old British Airways collection that used to be at Cosford was (literally) broken up a number of years ago.

[Deerfoot]

The FAA museum at RNAS Yeovilton has a Concorde that you can get on board too.

[Krikkit]

SpeckledJim said:

Aerospace Bristol has a Concorde indoors that you can get inside, walk underneath, etc.

Great museum.

Cosford has a LOT of planes, but I don't think they have anything large you can climb inside. Great museum as well though.

And a few airliners in the main building too.

Concorde is worth it on its own though, absolutely fantastic thing.

[Noyzboy]

The Departure Lounge might be worth investigating

It's in Alton Hampshire

https://www.flyingwithoutfear.com/

I have no experience of what they do.