Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, Shropshire
Admission is free to the museum in the West Midlands, which houses 70 aircraft and is home to War Planes, Missiles, Transport & Training and Research & Development collections. The National Cold War Exhibition with its interactive kiosks and hotspots gives visitors a chance to see what life was like behind the Iron Curtain.
Latest News: 5 July 2008
International Model Rally To Unveil A True Flight Of Fancy
The Large Model Association and the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford are celebrating 90 years of the RAF with the annual International Large Model Aircraft Rally at RAF Cosford on the 19th and 20th July 2008.
Please see Whats On page for admission charges.
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Sign Up To Our Facebook Fan Page By 31st July For Your Chance To Win
We would love you to share with us your pictures and memories of our Cosford Museum by joining our Fan page on Facebook; particularly if you have attended any recent events on site.
In return we promise to keep our page updated on a regular basis so that you are made aware of future events once they have been confirmed and to place regularly on the page exclusive images and videos of the people and events that bring the Museum to life.
All that you need to do is to login to your Facebook account, search for us under Royal Air Force Museum and start interacting. If you do so by 31st July we will place you into a Prize Draw to win 1 of 5 exclusive copies of "V Force : Ready for The Unthinkable", signed by various V Force veterans...and by signing up to our London Fan Page you can double your chances of winning as we are offering our London Fans the opportunity to win a further 5 signed copies of the book.
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Visit our Facebook Fan Page.
July's Podcast Now Posted On Website - Bomber Ops : The Lancaster
More than fifty-five thousand aircrew from Bomber Command died serving on aircraft like the Avro Lancaster, which was the backbone of the RAF's Bomber Fleet. The Museum's Lancaster Mk. 1 R5868 "S-for-Sugar", located at our London site, is a rare survivor of over one hundred missions. This podcast tells the story of what it was like to be a Bomber Command crewman, also telling the remarkable life story of one of the Museum's most popular and impressive exhibits.
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Listen to Podcast
July's Navigator Highlights
This month we have posted three new online highlights on our Navigator site: Aircraft Equipment, Sopwith Aircraft Photos, Ground Crew Illustrated.
Aircraft Equipment:
In addition to entire airframes, the RAF Museum holds larges numbers of aircraft pieces. In this highlight you will find a small selection of these objects.
Sopwith Aircraft Photos:
The Sopwith Aircraft Company was a British company founded in Kingston upon Thames by Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith in June 1912. In this highlight you will discover original photography of the company's earliest aircraft.
Ground Crew Illustrated:
The aircraft, weapons and stations of the RAF all needed to be maintained. These duties were carried out by the ground crews, or "Erks" as they were often known during the Second World War. This highlight of fine art shows a variety of ground crew personnel at work.
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Visit Navigator Online Collection
V Force: Ready For The Unthinkable
An RAF Museum publication sheds fresh light on the legendary V Force.
‘V Force – Ready for the unthinkable’ tells the extraordinary story of the most iconic group of post-war aircraft; the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan nuclear group. Above all else, it is these aircraft that kept Britain at the top table of international politics by ensuring that the United Kingdom could deploy its own independent nuclear deterrent.
The book, published for the Royal Air Force Museum by Newsdesk Media, features some newly uncovered information on the V Force and traces its history from the early design stages to the end of their service life, including operations in the Falkland Islands.
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Purchase V Force from the museum shop
Dambusters Anniversary Publication Uncovers Hidden History
A new book produced to coincide with the 65th Anniversary of the legendary Dams Raid uncovers elements of hidden history crucial to the success of 617 Squadron’s attack on the German Dams in May 1943.
The book produced for the Royal Air Force Museum by Newsdesk Media Group is titled ‘BREACHING THE GERMAN DAMS – FLYING INTO HISTORY’ and has been written by Robert Owen, the Official Historian of the No. 617 Squadron Aircrew Association, and Richard Morris, author of acclaimed biographies of Wing Commanders Guy Gibson VC and Leonard Cheshire VC. The foreword is by New Zealander, Les Munro, the sole remaining pilot to have taken part in the epic operation.
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Purchase Breaching the Dams - Flying into History
Museum Offers Children A Sideways View Of The Cold War
The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford and the Sideways Theatre Company offered schools from the West Midlands the opportunity to experience at ‘first hand’ some of the most significant events of the Cold War era in a series of interactive workshops on 10th and 11th April.
In an action packed day, held at the National Cold War Exhibition, re-enactors portrayed some the period’s most charismatic and influential people in the aptly named ‘Coming in from the Cold’.
Image: Members of the Sideways Theatre Group
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View a short film about the NCWE
We're Simply The Best - National Cold War Exhibition Receives 2 New Awards.
We're proud to announce that the National Cold War Exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford won ‘Best Exhibition’ and ‘Best of the West’ at the prestigious Renaissance West Midlands Awards which celebrate achievement and innovation amongst the region’s museums and galleries,on 2nd April.
The National Cold War Exhibition beat off heavy competition from over 40 organisations across the West Midlands to win “Best of the West” at Renaissance West Midlands’ inaugural awards ceremony held at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Image reading from left to right: Paul Kaynes, West Midlands Creative Programmer for the Cultural Olympiad with Michelle Worthington and Karen Crick of the Royal Air Force Museum.
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See what all the fuss is about, take a virtual tour.
The exhibitions at Cosford contain only a fraction of the overall holdings of the RAF Museum. In London, at Hendon, the Royal Air Force Museum London displays an equally large and important part of our collection.
