Brooklands Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1991 |
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| Location | Weybridge, Surrey |
| Type | Aviation museum, Motor museum |
The Brooklands Museum is an exciting place in Weybridge, Surrey, England. It's a museum all about cars and planes. You can find it on part of the old Brooklands Motor Course.
The museum officially opened in 1991. It is run by a special group called the Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd. This group is a charity that works to keep the amazing history of Brooklands alive. They want to protect and share all the cool things that happened there.
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The Story of Brooklands
Brooklands is a very important place in British history. It's where car racing and flying really began in the UK. Many amazing inventions and technological breakthroughs happened here for over 80 years.
The race track was built in 1907 by a local landowner named Hugh F. Locke King. It was the first ever race track built just for racing in the whole world! Many speed records were set on this track.
Brooklands also became one of Britain's first places for airplanes. Many early flying pioneers came here before World War I. It was also a major center for designing and building aircraft. Between 1908 and 1987, over 18,600 new aircraft were made here.
Companies like Bleriot, Hawker, Sopwith, Martinsyde, and Vickers were based at Brooklands. They played a huge role in the early days of aviation. The Daily Mail Circuit of Britain air race in 1911 started and finished at Brooklands. This event even inspired the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.
Training pilots was also a big part of what happened at Brooklands. This was important before World War I and between the wars. The museum shows how Brooklands helped the British aircraft industry. This includes its work during both world wars and in later years with Vickers and other companies.
Vickers bought the site in 1946. This allowed them to build planes for regular people. One famous plane was the Vickers Viscount. Many of these were built at Brooklands. Later, planes like the Vickers Vanguard and Vickers VC10 also had their first test flights from Brooklands.
How the Museum Started
Early Celebrations and the Brooklands Society
On July 6, 1957, a special monument was revealed at Brooklands. This was to celebrate 50 years since the motor course opened. Ten years later, in June 1967, a big event happened for the track's 60th birthday.
This event helped create the Brooklands Society. This group wanted to keep the history of Brooklands alive. They also wanted to save what was left of the old track and buildings.
In 1977, another celebration took place for the track's 70th anniversary. The Brooklands Society hoped to create a museum. However, they didn't have enough money to buy the land. In 1978, much of the track was cleared away. Many historic buildings were torn down, except for two.
Getting the Land and Opening the Museum
In 1982, a company called Gallaher Ltd bought the land where the museum is now. They kept some land for offices. But in 1984, they let Elmbridge Borough Council use 30 acres for a museum. Gallaher Ltd also promised money to fix up the old clubhouse.
Work to restore the site began in the mid-1980s. The Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd was officially formed in 1987. The first visitors came to the museum in the summer of 1990. The official opening ceremony was held on April 10, 1991. Prince Michael of Kent was there to open it.
The 21st Century at Brooklands
The museum has celebrated many important anniversaries. In 2007, they marked 100 years since the Brooklands Circuit opened. In 2008, it was 100 years of aviation at Brooklands. The Test Hill's 100th birthday was in 2009.
The London Bus Museum also moved to the Brooklands Museum site in August 2011. It has its own special building called Cobham Hall.
What You Can See at the Museum
The museum is built on 30 acres of the original 1907 race track. It has four buildings that are protected because they are so old and important. These include the 1907 Clubhouse and the 1911 Flight Ticket Office.
You can also see parts of the old race track. This includes the 1907 Finishing Straight and the very steep Members' Banking. The 1909 Test Hill is also there. These parts are protected as a historic monument.
Amazing Collections
The museum is open every day. It shows off many cool cars and planes linked to Brooklands. You can see huge racing cars like the 24-liter Napier-Railton. There are also motorcycles and bicycles.
The museum has a special collection of planes built by Hawker and Vickers. This includes a Concorde jet (G-BBDG)! You can even go inside the Concorde for a special experience.
Other cool exhibits include flying copies of old planes. These are a Bleriot XI and a Sopwith Camel. The Camel is kept in working order and sometimes shows off its engine. There's also a Grand Prix motor racing exhibit with a Formula One simulator.
The museum also has a copy of the Vickers Vimy plane. This plane was built in America in 1994. It was used to re-create three record-breaking long-distance flights from 1919–20. This Vimy plane is now kept in a special building called the Vimy Pavilion. Its engines are sometimes run for visitors to see.
In 2010, a temporary exhibit about Brooklands during the Battle of Britain opened. It featured a restored Hawker Hurricane plane. It showed how the aircraft factories at Brooklands were a target during World War II.
Another exhibit was about the Vickers Wellington plane. This exhibit featured the "Loch Ness Wellington," a plane found in a lake. It opened in 2011, celebrating 75 years since the first flight of this type of plane.
In 2012, the museum celebrated 50 years of the Vickers VC10 airliner. A new exhibit about the VC10 was opened. In late 2012, a large model of the Concorde (G-CONC) was moved to the museum's main entrance.
In 2013, the museum remembered the "Dambusters" attack from World War II. This famous mission used special "bouncing bombs" developed by Barnes Wallis and Vickers-Armstrong engineers. The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Avro Lancaster flew over the museum to honor this.
In 2015, the museum received a large grant to improve its "Aircraft Factory and Race-Track Revival Project." This project involved moving and restoring a 1940 Bellman Hangar. They also built a new Flight Shed and restored the north end of the Finishing Straight. This project was finished and opened in 2017.
Supporters of the Museum
The Brooklands Trust Members is a group that supports the museum. It was formed in 2008 when two other groups joined together.
London Bus Museum
In August 2011, the new London Bus Museum opened at Brooklands Museum. It used to be called the Cobham Bus Museum. This museum shows about 35 historic London buses. Some of them date back to the 1870s!
You can visit the London Bus Museum with the same ticket you use for Brooklands Museum. It's a great way to see even more history.
Images for kids
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The Brooklands Memorial
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The rebuilt Members Bridge over the northern part of the track
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Loch Ness Wellington at Brooklands
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