Bournemouth Aviation Museum — Attraction in Hurn

I took my mum to this museum about 2 weeks ago now at the weekend as my Grandad was in the air force.

At first you think you have gone the wrong way as there are lots of signs for the children's theme park 'Adventure Wonderland' but if you stay with it you will realise that they actually share the same car park but in no way are they connected in regards of facilities so no cross over i.e. screaming children.

The exhibit has lots of retired planes, it is a great experience where it allows you to really get up close to the planes and even sit in most of the cockpits and fiddle around with the switches and dials which was great for some photo opportunities.

Me and my mu have relatively short attention spans however there was enough to keep us at the attraction for about 3 hours. We especially liked the 'Palmair' exhibit which told us all about the small but mighty airline which kicked off the trend of going on holiday from Bournemouth Airport. You got to go into half of one of their retired planes where there was a video and a dress up to style yourself either as cabin crew or pilon which could have been fun however it could have done with a good wash so we decided not to.

There are lots of places to sit, relax and eat picnics in the centre of the museum which may I add is 95% outdoors in a grass field so I would recommend taking your wellies if the weather is a bit dodgy that day. There was not the facility to buy something savoury to eat so I would recommend taking a picnic or eating somewhere near. I only live down the road in the beautiful Southbourne so this was not a problem for us.

All in all a great attraction that should be supported as it is a great time capsule for our modern day heritage. It is very cheap to get into compared to other things to do in the area and I would definitely consider visiting again in a year or two.

The car park is treacherous as there are many pot holes, this however was fun as I own a small 4X4 and we had a mad 10 minutes after going in,out and over the bumps causing a big splashes which was hilarious, I would even consider going again if I was passing just for...

Horrible older Man and older woman that work there Friday 3rd December. I looked online to see what the closing times are and it said 4pm, we got there at 3.10pm. The guy came out with the women and they we’re both so so rude, (they look like they were about to leave to go home) if they POLITELY had said sorry it’s closed then not a problem but they didn’t say it politely. I said the website said you close at 4pm and he was so rude in the way he spoke to me and my children. I got back in the car with my youngest son who’s six years old and who’s Birthday day it was, was crying as he’d been looking forward to going (it’s his favourite place to go normally as he’s obsessed with plans and his Dads a Pilot and the airplane we met on when we used to work together is in the museum and there’s pictures of his Dad in the museum so our Son loves going there). The men went back in but I got my phone out and said to the woman can I just show you on my phone the opening times, she put her hand up and said no I’m just a volunteer I’m not interested. I don’t care if you’re a volunteer or not, there is no need for that level of rudeness. They could not careless there were children there, they totally over looked them. I haven’t been out the house for two weeks because I suffer from anxiety and the first time I manage to leave the house I encounter these two horrible people. This same guy was really rude to my Husband in the summer and luckily there was another guy there that was actually really nice and helpful. If you can’t be nice to the general public, especially children then volunteer or not, you shouldn’t be working in the public domain. You completely ruined my sons Birthday, thanks for being horrible to a family that just went out to enjoy...

The museum is a very interesting place, especially for anyone who served in the RAF, as I did.

From 1963-66 I worked on Vulcan navigation systems at RAF Scampton. One consistent feature of the Vulcans, even in the depths of winter, was that they were clean, shiny and looked the part. The Vulcan nose section at the museum looks anything but the part - it needs TLC! Worse, it is the "gate guardian" - the only exhibit seen from the road by the travelling public. At Scampton in my time we had a Lancaster as a gate guardian - it was never allowed to look anything other than good to go!

So, is it a case of different priorities, lack of volunteers, shortage of Turtle wax perhaps? Maybe those of us now in our late 70s and beyond should remuster as cleaners!

This is an edit after my post above:

Beware the parking arrangements. Since my last visit the landowner has engaged the services of Parking Eye of whom much has been written so there's no need to repeat it here other than, it seems to me, they prefer easy money to working for a living.

If, like me, you arrive, sit outside in the car parking area and wait to see if the torential rain will stop and after half an hour or so decide it isn't and decide to come another day, you will collect a £100 penalty. I suspect, but do check, that the arrangement between the landowner, the museum and Parking Eye is that if you go into the museum and pay the entry fee they will take your car's registration to cancel the entry camera input. So, no speculatives recces - it's a hugely expensive mistake and yet another example of a landowner ripping off visitors...