Sywell Aviation
Museum (SAM) is a voluntary, non-profit-making organisation
which aims to preserve the history of Sywell Aerodrome and
Northamptonshire's rich aviation heritage from the early days of
aviation to the Second World War and beyond. SAM began life in
1998 and the Museum building was opened in 2001 by the legendary
aviator Alex Henshaw MBE who is also our honorary president.
Alex flew from Sywell regularly during the Second World War,
airtesting Vickers Wellingtons from the aerodrome so we were
honoured that he agreed to launch our small Museum.
The Museum originally consisted of
three Nissen huts, dismantled at thew now-closed RAF Bentwaters
and erected on site at Sywell. The buildings themselves are
artefacts having been used as bomb fuzing sheds at Bentwaters by
the USAAF during WW2. The Museum expanded in 2010 and 2011 withthe
addition of two new Nissen huts, formerly POW Camp Huts from Snape
Farm, Derbyshire.
The first hut (opened during Easter 2011) was named The Paul Morgan Hall
and houses the Museum's cockpit collection and a complete WW2
Link Trainer. The second hall (opened in Easter 2012) includes
an expanded USAAF Hall and a new POW/Luftwaffe exhibition. The
Museum's first complete airframe, a Hawker Hunter F.2 WN904,
was acquired in summer 2012 followed by the cockpit of English
Electric Canberra TT.18 WH887 in 2014.
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