Wings Aviation Museum

13/10/2026

One of our founding curators of the Wings Aviation Museum, Dan Hunt appeared on this weeks BBC Country File, which was a special episode on the epic search for Cpl Clarence Watson aged 22 who lost his life on 9th October 1944, when a B-24H Liberator crashed into high ground at Twizle Head Moss near Holmfirth West Yorkshire, during a routine test flight. A team of volunteers have spent six weeks in extreme weather conditions looking for any evidence of what happened to Clarence. In the near future the Wings Museum will be dedicating a new display in remembrance of Clarence and the eight other crew members who lost their lives and the full story of the excavation team that worked relentlessly for six weeks to try to solve this 82 year old mystery.

09/10/2026

After a long year of headaches, late nights and more than a few moments of “are we ever going to get this done?”, we can finally say it, the Rolls-Royce Merlin XX from Halifax JD150 is running again.

What a journey it’s been. It all started when we discovered an internal coolant leak. That meant pulling a cylinder liner, which is never a small job on one of these. Then we found the top cylinder rings needed replacing, so we had new ones specially manufactured. Just when we thought we were making real progress, we uncovered a crack in the cylinder bank. One setback after another, the way these old Merlins often are. They don’t give up their secrets easily.
We’ve still got a little more work to do on her before she’s fully sorted, but it’s absolutely fantastic to see her finally back up and running. Hearing that distinctive Merlin note again after all this time is something special.

We can’t thank Maurice Hammond and Peter Grieve enough. Without their support, expertise and generosity we simply wouldn’t be at this point. Proper heroes of the restoration world.
More updates and photos will be coming soon.

We have now started planning run dates for next season so watch this space.

In the meantime, if you’ve ever worked on a Merlin (or just love hearing them run), we’d love to hear your stories in the comments.

06/10/2026

There is life in the old girl yet! With thanks to Colin Stephen Spencer for welding the barrel back on our 1943 4.5 inch naval gun. More work needed 9n the outer housing. Once fitted to HMS Zambesi and involved in hunting down the Tirpitz. These guns were also used as high altitude anti aircraft guns.

28/09/2026

A pleasure to welcome two British Nuclear Test veterans to the Wings Museum today for a private viewing of our first-of-its-kind brand new display "into the atom". Arthur Mathews was RAF ground crew with 76 Squadron and John Robinson was aircrew with 76 Squadron flying sampling missions through nuclear mushroom clouds! Fantastic to hear their unique stories from Christmas Island. What they did will never be forgotten and "into the atom" will ensure their stories are recorded for future generations. We also welcomed several family members of Nuclear Test veterans and of course our friends from Labrats.

01/09/2026

While attending the Military Odyssey Show in Kent this weekend we acquired an extremely rare componet from a Fiesler Fi 103 V1 Flying Bomb. The snag was how to get it back to the car! It was wet and very slippery and very heavy. We tried rolling it and carrying it. In the end these guys from the 514th QM Truck renactment group came to the rescue. Thanks guys! So what on earth is it? Answer is it is one of two air bottles from a V1 Flying Bomb or "Doddle Bug". This one crashed shortly after being launched before it could reach England. We are always on the lookout for V1 and V2 parts.

26/08/2026

Tim and Dave spent a few hours fitting the Main Wheels to the Hawker Hunter at the Dunsfold Site where Wings Aviation Museum will move to some day in the future.
It is now off the pallets and back on it`s wheels.
Next up is to clean and paint it in the Danish paint scheme.

25/08/2026

We are still looking for an aperture card scanner to borrow/hire, unfortunately commercial companies that offer scanning services are very expensive.

If you can help please let us know

11/07/2026

Wings Museum is supporting Surrey Hills Military History Festival National Trust by loaning some historically important artefacts relating to the crash on Reigate Hill on 19th March 1945.

Tomorrow (Sunday 12th July) is the last day of the History Festival which is being held at Reigate Hill Fort.

Meet costumed interpreters, see historic vehicles, explore inside the historic fort buildings, and learn how Reigate Fort played an important role in protecting London and the South East.

There will also be a series of talks from expert speakers covering a wide range of topics over the weekend:

More information please see the link below.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/surrey/reigate-hill-and-gatton-park/events/324ef35d-c993-45b0-b21e-4878224224a9?fbclid=IwY2xjawS_bjNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEen0__bZY5M0nUK0T5TI_IH2YAPtNM2hkW0tlMU-V-zyYo173nSK8MQF12lYM_aem_CgNBnomJV7h9gisrvNDlMA

Explore the fascinating history of Reigate fort, built in 1898 as part of a chain of defensive forts, at this two-day family event.

05/07/2026

It's always a pleasure to get Wings Aviation Museum out and about for some public engagement, especially when the sun is shining and crowds come flocking! Capel Military Show did not disappoint and was another fantastic show this year.

We spoke to hundreds of visitors and we look forward to seeing some of them visit the museum in the near future.

Thank you too all our volunteers who worked tirelessly promoting the museum and helping visitors sit in our latest acqusition our lovely Harrier GR3 cockpit.

Here's some photos of the weekend.

30/06/2026

Today a small team of Volunteers went to Wings Dunsfold Site to start working on the Hunter. The Nose wheel assy has been replaced. The Tailcone fitted back on along with the Bullet Fairing. Work has also started on removing the Main Wheels which are seized on. We will return soon to change these and lower the aircraft to the ground.