Avro Heritage Museum

10/07/2025

It's looking like a scorcher! But there's plenty of cover at the 'Wings and Wheels' Air Fair this weekend. Spend time inside the museum (included in the entry price), or enjoy a drink, ice cream or lunch, shaded by the Vulcan's wings.

See the facebook event for what's on: https://fb.me/e/81VoInaQH - there's something for everyone.

Book online to get a discount on the gate price. Adults £9, Children aged 11+ £5, Family £25, Under 11s are free! Go to www.avroheritagemuseum.co.uk to book.

04/07/2025

Just one week to go until Avro’s annual 'Wings and Wheels' Air Fair at Avro Heritage Museum! It’s a fabulous family event, whether or not you're a plane geek! Perfect to meet up and spend a day with friends and family, with something for everyone. Sat 12th and Sun 13th July from 10am.

Online sales are hotting up, so book now to get a discount on the gate price! Adults £9, Children aged 11+ £5, Family £25, Under 11s are free! Go to www.avroheritagemuseum.co.uk to book.

Here's what's on (plus the museum is open too!):

🚗✈️For plane geeks and petrol heads
* Lancaster flypast
* SeaKing Helicopter Cockpit to go in!
* Runway Flight Simulators Ltd
* Classic cars
* Tractor and upkeep mine (‘bouncing bomb’)
* Steam engines
* A real (if wingless) Anson
* Triplane
* Shackleton
* Avro 707 (Vulcan prototype) and large Vulcan model
* Eurofighter simulator!
* Pynegans aviation archives and memorabilia
* Mx655 Vulcan memorabilia

🎤Entertainment
* Fabulous local band 90 PROOF with popular covers to delight!
* Line dancing
* Inflatable obstacle course
* Birds of prey
* Eurofighter simulator!

🍻🍕Food and drink includes:
Jacob Pizza
Nellies Kitchen.co.uk
Drinks for all the family from regulars Thirsty Filly - Mobile Horse Box Bar (proper German beers, plus ciders, ale, wines, fizz, freshly made cocktails, mocktails and soft drinks)

🛒Stalls
Runway Flight Simulators - the local providers of flight sim experiences.
Statement Artworks with their hilarious retro posters
Cathy Ellis - linen tea towels and place mats with local scenes
Scented and more with candles and reeds
Buzz Bites - doggy treats
The Back Clinic - Poynton Chiropractic with advice
RLNI and Children's Air Ambulance Charities
Vernon Building Society with their bear
Anchor Housing - retirement apartments and bungalows
Howarth cheeses and pies
DBJ ladies fashion
E C Creative Canvas pictures
Wizard of Arts face painting
Ninjas jewellery and handbags
WI jam and home baking
Wild Nectar Honey
The Crochet Boutique

Facebook Event is here https://fb.me/e/81VoInaQH

* Extra charges apply for some activities. Availability subject to change and varies across the weekend.

How to get here: SK7 1GD

03/07/2025

New Additions to our Collection.

Former Tornado pilot, Qualified Weapons Instructor (QWI), and Avro Heritage Museum Volunteer Douglas McClymont describes the WE.177 nuclear bombs carried by RAF aircraft including the Avro Vulcan and Hawker Siddeley Ni**od.

The two WE.177C at the Avro Heritage Museum have been gifted by the Royal Air Force Museum and will be displayed beneath Avro Vulcan B2 XM603 for events such as our Wings and Wheels weekend.

Former RAF Tornado pilot, Qualified Weapons Instructor (QWI), and Avro Heritage Museum volunteer Douglas McClymont describes the WE.177 nuclear bombs carried...

30/06/2025

First Ever Landing At Avro Woodford

The first aeroplane to land at Avro’s Woodford aerodrome is widely believed to have been a de Havilland Cirrus Moth registered as G-EBLV. It was delivered on Saturday, 29th August 1925 by Alan Cobham and marked by an event open to the public featuring a flying display and joy rides for dignitaries.

It was in actual fact, the third aeroplane to land at Woodford and was the second of two Cirrus Moths gifted by the Air Ministry to Lancashire Aero Club to promote light aviation.
John Leeming, chairman of Lancashire Aero Club, was set to collect the first Cirrus Moth G-EBLR on 28th June 1925 from the de Havilland Stag Lane factory near London. He planned to fly it back to Woodford with a de Havilland pilot, where a large reception was arranged for the evening.

When Leeming arrived at Stag Lane, he was told that the aircraft had developed engine trouble which would need to be thoroughly investigated and couldn’t be repaired for several days. Unfortunately, de Havilland had no other machine that they could send. It was a catastrophe for Leeming who considered that not only was his reputation at stake it would also see the end of Lancashire Aero Club.

The disaster was avoided late in the afternoon when the only other airworthy Cirrus Moth G-EBKT arrived back at Stag Lane. After some fraught discussion Leeming commandeered the aircraft and arranged for it to fly up to Woodford where nobody would realise it wasn’t the correct aircraft, but it could be formally accepted and then flown back to Stage Lane the following day.

So, just over 100 years ago on 28 June 1925 de Havilland Cirrus Moth G-EBKT was the very first aeroplane to land at Woodford Aerodrome. A tricky situation had been avoided. The following day after Cobham had departed very early back to Stag Lane one very concerned member of Lancashire Aero Club rang Leeming to say the aeroplane had been stolen.

The first of Lancashire Aero Clubs Cirrus Moths register G-EBLR was finally delivered on Tuesday 21 July flown by Alan Cobham and their second G-EBLV on Saturday 29 August 1925.

Cirrus Moths G-EBKT and G-EBLR were both written off after flying accidents. However, members of the Avro Heritage Museum visited the former de Havilland propeller factory, now the UK headquarters MBDA in Bolton to see the propeller of G-EBKT on display and its rudder is believed to have been used as part of damage repair to DH Cirrus Moth G-EBLV which is still airworthy with the Shuttleworth Trust in Bedfordshire.

For the full story see https://pleszak.blog/2024/09/22/the-significance-of-dh-cirrus-moth-g-eblv-at-the-woodford-centenary/

29/06/2025

Here is another amazing clip from the Avro Heritage Museum oral history podcast session with Jeff Brown talking about his conversion from a WW2 air gunner on Avro Lancasters to post war on Boeing B29 Washington.

Continuing the Avro Heritage Museum’s Oral History Podcast IBCC volunteer interviewer Susanne Pescott talks to former WW2 Avro Lancaster Air Gunner Jeff Brow...

26/06/2025

Former Avro Lancaster Air Gunner 99 year old Jeff Brown describes training to do a corkscrew.

The interview is in front of the Avro Heritage Museum’s Avro Anson at Woodford, an aircraft that Jeff had earlier trained on.

IBCC volunteer interviewer Susanne Pescott talks to former Avro Lancaster Air Gunner Jeff Brown about training to do a corkscrew. The interview is in front o...

24/06/2025

Happy 65th Birthday to the Avro 748. The first Series One prototype (G-APZV) took flight on the 24th June 1960 from Woodford at the hands of Avro Test Pilot Tony Blackman.

The video shows the prototype returning from the maiden flight.

Later called the HS748 a total of three hundred eighty one 748s were produced through to 1988. Even today a few 748s remain in service with a small number of operators.

18/06/2025

Hop aboard for Avro Heritage Museum's Wings Wheels Weekend! Great value days out with family and friends, 12th and 13th July at Woodford Aerodrome, Stockport.

There will be fabulous live music from 90 PROOF, line dancing, Lancaster flypast, inflatable obstacle course, classic cars, birds of prey, stalls, plenty to eat and drink with Nellies Kitchen.co.uk, pizza and stalls, drinks for all the family with regulars Thirsty Filly - Mobile Horse Box Bar, plus the museum is open too, with lots to see and even a chance to try the Eurofighter simulator!

Click 'Interested' or 'Going' on the Facebook event to get reminders and help spread the word https://fb.me/e/81VoInaQH

Book online in advance for speedier entry: Adults £9, Children aged 11+ £5, Family £25, Under 11s are free! Go to www.avroheritagemuseum.co.uk.

Here are just some of the other things you'll find over the weekend:

Statement Artworks with their hilarious retro posters
Cathy Ellis - linen tea towels and place mats with local scenes
Scented and more with candles and reeds
Buzz Bites - doggy treats
The Back Clinic - Poynton Chiropractic with advice
RLNI and Children's Air Ambulance Charities
Vernon Building Society with their mascot
Anchor Housing - retirement apartments and bungalows
Howarth cheeses and pies
DBJ ladies fashion
Pynegans aviation archives and memorabilia
E C Creative Canvas pictures
Wizard of Arts face painting
Ninjas jewellery and handbags
WI jam and home baking
Wild Nectar Honey
Mx655 Vulcan memorabilia
The Crochet Boutique

*Not all attractions are here for both days.
Gates open at 10, free parking all day.

Tag someone who'd like to go!

13/06/2025

UPDATE

The cockpit is now open. The new steps are usable.

To make access easier a new set of steps have been installed and the anti slip paint on the steps has taken longer to dry than expected.
All the other cockpits should be open subject to enough volunteers.

10/06/2025

Have you spotted our advert in the Stockport Post? We want everyone to know about our 2 fabulous main events this year! Brilliant for days out with family and friends, right here at Woodford Aerodrome, Stockport.

Wings and Wheels Weekend, 12th and 13th July: Live music and dance, fly pasts, inflatable obstacle course, classic cars, birds of prey, stalls, food, a bar and more.

1940s Weekend, 6th and 7th September: Step back in time with live entertainment and see amazing re-enactors in action. Enjoy the Robinson brewery dray with shire horses, food and drink, steam engines and music - Swing dance to popular 1940s tunes, under the wings of the iconic Vulcan!

Click Going or Interested on the Facebook events linked here to get reminders and spread the word:
Avro Wings and Wheels Weekend https://fb.me/e/81VoInaQH
Avro 1940s Weekend https://fb.me/e/bmLmcDxxf

Book online in advance. Day entry: Adults £9, Children aged 11+ £5, Family £25, Under 11s are free! Go to https://www.avroheritagemuseum.co.uk/

We're proud to support Post Community News GM with a paid advert, and we're confident it will be well worth the small fee. They have provided us with fabulous coverage of our exhibition, anniversary and expansion plans in the past and provide valuable and rare, positive community news, helping to connect people to the places where they live and to other people.

06/06/2025

Join us for this on Sunday! Classic, Military & Emergency Vehicles Day, Sunday 8th June.
The museum and café are open as usual. No need to book to bring an exhibiting vehicle - price is £5 for the driver and one passenger who go free to the museum too.

For other passengers or visitors, just normal museum admission applies (Adults £9, Family 2 adults plus 2 children over 11 £25, Concessions £7, Children 11 - 17 £5, Under 11s free).

05/06/2025

Classic, Military & Emergency Vehicles Day

Hot on the heels of our Super Car event or should it be ‘Wheels’, we have another event this coming Sunday 8th June. It is our Classic, Military & Emergency Vehicles Day.

The museum and café will be open as usual and weather permitting the Typhoon simulator will be available for adrenaline junkies (£10 charge for simulator).

If you have a vehicle that’s not already booked in you are more than welcome to bring it on the day. Price is £5 for the driver and one passenger who go free to the museum too.

Other passengers pay the normal museum admission price.

For other visitors, just normal museum admission applies (Adults £9, Family 2 adults plus 2 children over 11 £25, Concessions £7, Children 11 - 17 £5, Under 11s free).

Here’s some super picture from the recent Super Car event and last year’s Military Vehicles event.