South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum — Attraction in Doncaster

This is a terrific gem of an aircraft museum in Doncaster with a variety of different aircraft and a treasure trove of items to see. The aircraft on display are different types of Canberra Aircraft, Westland Helicopters, De Haviland Aircraft and Blackburn Aircraft along with Hawks and Hawker Siddely all of which are fantastically presented and displayed and in very well looked after. Visitors can also cancel go into the Cockpits of some aircraft which is a great experience and gives you an idea of what it was like for the people who flew them. There are small information displays accompanied with each of the aircraft which is very informative and interesting detailing their uses and what they are. The different types of Westland Helicopters are the best due to their imposing magnificent look about them but the display of the line of Canberra's is also a very good note of worthiness and the place has a very good display dedicated to them probably the best contribution to Canberra Aircraft of any Aircraft Museum in the UK. There are some other interesting displays of uniforms of RAF personnel and model aircraft and there is a lovely section on Polish Airmen in The UK in WWII and their contributions. Other exhibitions is the Sheffield Blitz discussing how Sheffield was bombed during WWII and how the city coped with and how it affected the lives of people where there are some heartening stories to learn about and there is an interesting display about the Zeppelin bombings in WWI along with a great display of an RAF Operations Room during the War effort. The Sheffield Blitz exhibition also has some great reconstruction of how it coped during the blitz. There are aircraft on display inside and outside with the large display the best place due to the fact it is literally a treasure trove of different aircraft to see and you could get in their magnificence. There is also a lovely Battle of Britain Memorial detailing the personnel who gave their lives during the War. The volunteers on site are very friendly and very helpful making you very welcome and also tell you what there is to see at the museum. There is no cafe but there is a gift shop selling model kits and other souvenirs at reasonable prices. Overall this is a fantastic and magnificent place to visit and see great aircraft on display. Definitely worth a visit of...

This is a cracking museum that we visited whilst in the area to stay at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. It was very reasonably priced to enter, and the lady in the shop was extremely friendly and welcoming. There's a little cafe just off the side of the gift shop, though we didn't eat here.

The museum itself has a number of different areas. Firstly, there's an outdoor area with helicopters, cockpits, and aircraft that spans the museum. Then there's a number of different out buildings, each housing different themed exhibits. There's also a main hanger with a big variety of aircraft, vehicles, and other items such as flight simulators. We were informed upon entering that there are always 4 open cockpits every day that you can climb into. We also saw advertisements for open cockpit weekends, which I think would be well worth a return visit.

We only gave ourselves 2.5 hours to visit here, which was probably just about right as we had a 3 year old with us. However, if you don't have a small child in tow and you were interested in reading the detail on all the exhibits, then you really could spend a full day here, if not longer. The whole family loved it here and our kids were particularly amazed at the fact they could be hands on with real aircraft (some exhibits are OK to touch/sit in, whilst others request you not to).

Our only feedback was that on some of the items (particularly the row of cockpits in the outside area), we'd have liked to have been able to have some information about that general model of plane and some of the features of it, rather than just about the history of where that cockpit was sourced from. But that really was just a minor thing, and it really is amazing to think that this place has been put together by enthusiasts...

This is a nice place to go if you like planes. My initiall impression was of the very friendly staff and was really impressed.

The exhibition seemed a little jumbled at first, and it's true there isn't a great deal of order to some of it, which is probably due to lack of space, however it does mean that part of the fun is switching from one thing to another reading about the in-depth historys that the museum has on each piece,

What was a surprise was the section on the Falklands. I have just finished a book about a Commando unit during the war so it was interesting to see the air side of it in the museum.

It was also good to see all of my favourite aircraft there, even if some of them were only in cockpit form.

When I was there there was the chance to get into a Vulcan cockpit, which is always pretty impressive. This is one of my favourites that they only have a cockpit of but still, any chance to get into a cockpit is fun. They have cockpit days for other things too, so if this is something you're after I would recommend giving them a call as I don't think this is something that is available all the time.

One little gem was the room with two flight sims in the corner of the hall. Just essentially PC games, but still fun none the less, especially since the helicopter sim has a collective stick, so you're more or less flying it like a real helicopter.

Oh and if you're into your kit models, then they have a load of them in the shop.

All in all a...