Date: 29-30 June 2019 / Time: 10.00am-5.00pm / Cost: FREE

The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford will launch its ‘Summer of Spitfire’ season of family activities centred around the most iconic aircraft ever built, at the Armed Forces Weekend celebrations taking place on 29 and 30 June.

This family weekend packed full of nostalgic activities will offer visitors the first opportunity to step inside the NEW Virtual Reality Zone and experience the thrill of flying in a Spitfire. This brand-new experience places you in the cockpit and 10,000 feet in the air for a panoramic view of a real Spitfire flight. With the use of VR goggles, fun focussed visitors can enjoy a 6-minute flight and see first-hand what it’s like to taxi and take-off in a Spitfire, and of course….no flight would be complete without a circuit of the airfield, including low passes and a loop de loop, before landing and taxiing into the hangar.

The footage developed exclusively for the RAF Museum is the first of several new VR experiences on board real aircraft to become available, with more flights arriving soon. The experience costs just £5 per person and is suitable for visitors ages 13+. Doors to the six new VR stations will open on 29 June and is just one of the many exciting activities taking place across the site over Armed Forces Weekend.

Re-enactors, period settings, engine demonstrations and military and civilian vintage vehicle displays will bring the Museum to life with authentic experiences nestled amongst the historical aircraft on display. Exclusively for the Summer months, the Museum will display its rare photo reconnaissance Spitfire PR. XIX alongside the World’s oldest Spitfire Mk 1.

WHAT’S ON over the Armed Forces Weekend:

• Learn how the plotting table played a vital role in the pilot’s flying missions
• Join a Vulcan pilot and his team preparing to scramble under the wings of the real aircraft
• View the airships display and find out more about their use during the First World War
• ‘Greyhounds’ play, a second World War Theatre performance by Time & Again Theatre Company on Saturday 29 June (£5 per person).
• Find out how sea mines were recovered and detonated, or in some cases not, during special talks
• Take a closer look inside the cockpit of the world’s oldest Spitfire and enjoy a rare view of the photo reconnaissance Spitfire PR. XIX
• Walk amongst the Second World War tents, meet members from Women’s Voluntary Service and take part in rifle and bayonet drills
• See a range of military and civilian vehicles on display
• Climb inside the Hunter and Phantom cockpit and experience what it was like to fly these aircraft
• Meet the pilot and find out more about the Japanese Kawasaki Ki-1001b
• Watch as RAF Bomber Command ground crew prepare themselves for a mission, including the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
• Watch Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk500 and Bristol Hercules Mk216 demonstrations
• Dress up in RAF attire and grab some props from the Museum’s handling collection and take photos as a memento of your day
• Families can enjoy decorating their own Armed Forces flag to take home
• Share your stories and personal connections to the RAF with the Museum’s RAF Stories team who will be on site capturing contemporary stories relating to the RAF for the digital online collection
• The Museum’s restaurant will be serving a selection of Armed Forces treats all weekend

(Vehicles and re-enactment groups subject to change.)

The ‘Armed Forces Weekend’ will run from 10.00am to 5.00pm on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 June 2019. The Museum’s Summer of spitfire programme will conclude on 1 September at the sell-out Spitfire 10K. For more information visit www.rafmuseum.org/cosford.

Tags: 2019, June, News, RAF Museum Cosford