As the Royal Air Force Museum prepares to open its doors to visitors for the first time in more than three months, they have enlisted the help of their social media fans to help get the message out.

Posters designed by members of the public are being used by the Museum through their online platforms to promote the Museum’s reopening on Monday 6 July.

Over May half term the Museum launched a poster competition through its social media channels, calling on members of the public to design a poster to be used by the Museum during the reopening phase. 100 entries were received across three age categories – Over 18s, 10-18 Years and Under 10s.

The three winning designs now feature on the Museum’s website home page and social media accounts, and along with six runners up designs, will be displayed at both the Cosford and London sites for a period over the summer. A photo gallery and video of all the entries received can now be viewed on the RAF Museum’s Facebook page.

Winners will each receive a £100 prize bundle from the RAF Museum Shop, kindly sponsored by The Art Society Wrekin and six runners up get an RAF goody bag thanks the RAF Youth & STEM Team. Entries were received from across the country with two of the winners being local to RAFM London in Borehamwood and High Barnet, and two of the runners up local to RAF Museum Cosford in Telford and Birmingham.

Michelle Worthington, RAF Museum Communications Manager said:
“We were blown away with the response we received to the Poster Competition, across all age categories. It’s been wonderful to see the huge effort people have put into their designs; we have been really impressed with the creativity shown and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing them all. We are thrilled to be showcasing the winning designs online as we prepare to reopen, and we look forward to seeing them on display within the Museum soon.”

The Museum will be reopening its doors on Monday 6 July with a range of measures in place to ensure a safe and great day out for the whole family. While still offering FREE entry to all, visitors are kindly asked to pre-book their arrival time online at www.rafmuseum.org

RAF Museum welcomes back visitors to a great and safe day out

Following recent advice from the Government and Public Health England, the RAF Museum is pleased to announce that we will be re-opening our doors to visitors on Monday 6 July.

With the health and safety of visitors and colleagues in mind, the Museum will now be asking visitors to pre-book their arrival time at www.rafmuseum.org. While still offering free entry to all, the new timed ticket approach will guarantee the space needed for a safe an enjoyable day out.

The Museum has been working hard behind the scenes to prepare new social distancing measures in preparation for re-opening, a one-way visitor flow and a limit of the number of people in each building will be in place when the Museum reopens on 6 July. Hand sanitiser will be available at the entrance to each hangar and throughout each building. Hand washing facilities are also available in all Museum buildings. We also encourage visitors to act in a manner that respects the safety of others.

The RAF Museum is unique in terms of our size, we offer wide open spaces – both inside and out, and a range of exhibits that will engage the whole family. Both sites have large green spaces, ideal for a summer picnic and we are also offering take-away food at our restaurants. Onsite parking is available, and the Museum shop will also be open and take contactless payment.

Barry Smith, Director of Visitor and Commercial Development, RAF Museum:
“We are incredibly happy to welcome our visitors back and have implemented a range of measures across both sites to ensure a safe and great day out for the whole family. Our friendly staff are also committed to creating a considerate and respectful environment for all our visitors. With our expansive spaces and engaging exhibits, we are the ideal day out for the summer.”

www.rafmuseum.org

Before Christmas 2019 the Newark Air Museum announced the impending arrival of Eurofighter Typhoon DA4, ZH590. As part of this project a new section of hard-standing was laid behind the Museum Café and four aircraft were moved to the western end of the site’s existing hard-standing area.

This work all took place just before the Covid-19 pandemic was declared and the country went into lockdown. At that time there were twenty (20) separate aircraft movements that were needed to take place to complete the project ready for the arrival of DA4.

As the museum trustees started to undertake the Covid-Secure reviews and assessments for their 16 acre Gateway Aviation Site, it became apparent that it would be useful to complete these remaining aircraft moves before the museum re-opened to visitors. Not only would it mean the museum was ready to receive Eurofighter Typhoon DA4, but it would also simplify the implementation of a new one-way route around Display Hangar 2.

Following the Government’s announcement that heritage sites were amongst the locations able to reopen in early July, the plan was quickly reactivated. The first of these moves then took place on Wednesday 24th June, 2020.

At the present time several aircraft are temporarily located outside Hangar 2, but these will be move back undercover once the Wessex helicopter XV728 has been moved over to form the centre piece feature of a new admission area for the museum site. Also due to remain outside is Canberra B2 (mod) WV787, which will remain in its new display position on the new hard-standing area behind the Museum Cafe.

At the present time the museum still does not have an arrival date for Eurofighter Typhoon DA4, which has been delayed by the lockdown. The current aim is to have the Newark Air Museum site open to receive visitors on Monday 6th July, 2020.

www.newarkairmuseum.org

Join the Royal Navy International Air Day on Saturday 11 July for a free action-packed live streaming featuring the best displays from Air Day this century!

2020 was set to be one of the best Air Days yet, so it was with great disappointment that the event was cancelled earlier this year. Fortunately, there is now no need to miss out. The organisers have collaborated with Planes TV to bring you an online Air Day for free! This will be an opportunity to see a large variety of incredible Air Day displays from the last 20 years, including performances from aircraft operated by the Royal Navy, past and present such as the Sea Hawk, Sea Harrier, Sea King and F-35 Lightning; foreign military fast jets such as French Navy Super Etendards and Polish Air Force MiG-29; and some rare and wonderful participants like the Vulcan bomber, South African Airways 747 and the huge Antonov An-124. As well as the display footage, there will be fascinating commentary from Royal Navy personnel, display pilots and operators. Get ready to turn up the volume and enjoy ‘Air Day – Rewind’ with the best acts of the last two decades and a few surprise displays from the mid-90’s all from the comfort of your own home.

If you would like to join the Royal Navy International Air Day for this thrilling live stream it will take place on Saturday 11 July 2020 from 11:00 to 17:00 and can be seen live on the Royal Navy International Air Day Facebook page and various other platforms. Look out for the display schedule which will be released in due course.

YouTube: www.youtube.com/yeoviltonairday
Website: www.royalnavy.mod.uk/airday (social media links at bottom of this page)

The Newark Air Museum (NAM) is a registered charity and throughout the Covid-19 lockdown NAM has been trying to generate vital funding by selling aviation kits and books, through its associated trading operation the Newark Air Museum Shop. Until now this has been via and Order & Collect system.

Recent changes to the non-essential retail trading guidelines mean that NAM is now re-opening its shop on Tuesday 16th June 2020. A full set of Covid-Secure Risk Assessments have been completed for the Shop and it will operate on the following basis:

• The Shop will be open on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
• Opening times will be 10am to 11am for museum members and 11am to 4pm for the public
• Only one shopper will be allowed into the Shop at a time & there will be a contact number by the entrance for people to use to gain access (please bring your phones)
• Social distancing measures will be in place and Covid-Secure procedures will be used
• Contactless payments are preferred, but credit cards, cheques and cash will be accepted
• Shoppers will be encouraged to collect kits and books off the displays themselves; but they will be discouraged from opening kits and spending time ‘reading’ the books
• Normal access routes to the Shop will be in operation i.e. off Drove Lane via the entrance next to the Motor Auction Site
• A queuing area has been set up outside in the car parking area; N.B. there will be NO access to the wider museum site, display buildings or café

To help people to decide whether or not to come and shop, NAM has created virtual product lists, which feature photographs of the key sections of the Museum Shop to try and provide an idea of what is in stock. Shoppers are encouraged to email in to request copies of these lists for these main product areas:

Italeri Aircraft Kits
Revell Aircraft Kits
Airfix Aircraft Kits
Airfix Quick-Builds
Tamiya Aircraft Kits
Trumpeter Aircraft Kits
Assorted Aviation Books

For any such enquiries NAM will email out details explaining how shoppers can check for stock availability and request a price for the items. As things start to operate normally, the stock availability will change and NAM cannot be held responsible if an item is no longer available when shoppers arrive.

The museum trustees appreciate that this is not a perfect solution, but it does act as a step towards normal opening and help generate vital fund at this challenging time. This gradual reopening process will also provide important experience to help NAM to evaluate and understand how social distancing measures might need to be implemented elsewhere on the larger site when the museum is eventually able to reopen.

www.newarkairmuseum.org