Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum facts for kids
Sea Harrier on display
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| Established | 1972 |
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| Location | Flixton, Suffolk, England |
| Type | Aviation museum |
| Collection size | Approximately 30,000 items, including 60 aircraft |
| Visitors | Approximately 40,000 per year |
The Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum is a fantastic place to visit! It's a museum filled with amazing aircraft and other items related to aviation (that's flying!). You can find it near the old RAF Bungay airfield in Flixton, a village in Suffolk, England.
Contents
What You Can See at the Museum
The museum first opened in 1972. It started as the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Society. Today, it has more than 60 full or partial aircraft. Some of these are very rare!
For example, you can see the only complete de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.1 that is owned by a private group. There's also a flying copy of the Colditz Cock. This was a glider built by prisoners to try and escape during World War II. You can also find a Vickers Valetta VX580 C.2 and an FMA IA 58 Pucará. The Pucará was an aircraft captured by British forces during the Falklands War.
Special Collections
Besides the aircraft, the museum has special collections about different aviation topics. These include:
- The Royal Observer Corps (people who watched for enemy aircraft)
- RAF Bomber Command (the part of the Royal Air Force that flew bombers)
- Air-sea rescue (saving people from the sea)
- RAF Coastal Command (the part of the Royal Air Force that protected coastlines)
How the Museum Works
The museum doesn't just keep its old collections safe. Its members also actively look for and study old aircraft crash sites. This is called wreckology. They do this mainly in East Anglia, which is a region in England.
It's free to enter the museum! It gets all its money from donations from visitors, support from companies, and grants from local and European governments. The museum has only one full-time staff member. Most of the daily work and upkeep is done by a team of amazing volunteers.
The James Bond Connection
A famous pilot named Wing Commander Ken Wallis had a long connection with the museum. He was known for flying autogyros, which are like small helicopters. For many years, his autogyro, Little Nellie, was on display at the museum in Flixton.
Little Nellie became very famous because it appeared in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice. Ken Wallis was the museum's president until he passed away in September 2013.
See also
- List of aerospace museums
