Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum — Attraction in Rushmoor

Excellent little aviaton museum with focus on all sorts of flying machines conception, design, development and testing, from gliders to satellites. Working examples of real jet engines, helicopter rotors, wind tunnels etc. at the press of a button. There's a room ressembling an science museum with all types of aviation technology artifacts such as inertial reference platforms, or the first autopilot, and historical scenes like women stitching the fabrics o the first aeroplanes or a dark room for the first aerial photography processing. Big display of British aircraft scale models focusing on prototypes. Also flyable full-size replicas of Harrier and Concorde cockpits! On the upper floor there's a cozy coffee shop. On a separate building there is a full scale working replica of Samuel Cody's aircraft, and a beautiful cutaway of a Rolls-royce Merlin engine, among others. The museum has a nice little gift shop and kind volunteers are around, attending the visitors questions and kids curiosity. In the open, the flight display focuses on prototype aircraft including Gnat, Hunter, Jaguar, Scout, Puma, Jindivik, Lynx, Lightning and Harrier. Also sections of Canberra, Trident and Concorde among others. Some aircraft can be boarded on demand and under supervision. All the premises are able for wheelchairs and adapted to children. A real must for Farnborough visitors, and it's free. Donations...

I only found out about this place today at 2pm, on a Michael Portillo Railway Journey, despite my knowledge of the area and not being far away, I had no idea that the Cody aircraft had been replicated. I was excited and we were there just after 3pm. There was supposed to be accessible parking and accessible entrance. Not true, see my photos of the 2 disabled spaces which were inaccessible. The entrance was difficult. The 2 men were not interested let alone helpful and the one in the brown jacket was dismissive. The taller one with glasses never spoke to me at any point. I had expressed my excitement as my grandparents were actually present at the flight and even had a little bit. Brown jacket was clearly not interested so I walked all around trying to identify the piece that I held often as a small child. Not quite what I expected or was hoping for. I had brought photos. I left in tears. As a historian who has presented artifacts to the public, this failed me as an old person with a family link. I have been crying and depressed all evening and will not be returning. I’m now feeling like giving up sharing history publicly ever again. I’m just going to go back to researching dead people as apparently nobody is interested in saving anything these days. I’m actually feeling empty and bereft. My life is a battle these days due to illness and disability and it’s not worth...

Really interesting museum, I'm local to the area and I don't know if people realise how important Farnborough is to the history of aviation. They have 3 different flight simulators - you can have a go at flying a supersonic fighter jet and concord! (I wasn't very good at it but great fun). There's a good collection of planes and helicopters before you've even got through the door. There's an incredible replica of the first plane to make a powered flight in Britain (which happened a few hundred metres down the road), and in the same room is one of the first British developed space craft - it's an actual section of a real vehicle that went into space and was recovered for research purposes. The only reason I've given 4 instead of 5 is that there are bits that could do with an update, but there is no entry fee and all the staff are voluntary (and very knowledgeable and passionate on their topics, as well as being polite and friendly). There's plenty of parking and all of the museum is wheelchair accessible. There's a coffee room upstairs for hot drinks and snacks, and places nearby for a full meal. The gift shop has a massive selection of books for the seasoned aviation enthusiast and gifts for visitors and children. Well worth a visit if you're...