Wings Museum facts for kids
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Wings Museum entrance on Brantridge Lane
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| Location | Balcombe, West Sussex |
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| Type | Aviation museum |
The Wings Museum is an exciting place in Sussex, United Kingdom, where you can explore the world of aviation. It's like a giant garage, about 1,115 square meters (12,000 square feet) big, located in a former farm building. This museum is special because it shows off amazing items from World War II, like old airplane parts and pilot gear. Many of these items were given to the museum or found and fixed up by helpful volunteers.
Contents
Discovering the Wings Museum's Past
The Wings Museum started its journey at a place called Redhill Aerodrome. By 2011, the museum moved to its current home on Brantridge Lane.
In 2013, the museum helped raise money for the Bomber Command Memorial. This important memorial is in Green Park and honors brave airmen.
In 2015, some amazing volunteers worked hard to fix up a Bristol Beaufighter Mk1f airplane. This plane had crashed 75 years before, and they brought it back to life!
Exploring the Aircraft Collection
When you visit the Wings Museum, you can step inside a real Douglas C-47 Dakota airplane fuselage. This part of the plane was used during D-Day, a very important event in World War II. It was also used in the filming of the TV show Band of Brothers.
The museum has some very rare airplanes from World War II. Some of these aircraft are the only ones of their kind in the entire United Kingdom. It's a great chance to see history up close!
Jet Engine Aircraft
- Hawker Siddeley Kestrel XS694 (This plane is being fixed up, and some parts are stored.)
Propeller Engine Aircraft
- North American B-25J-25-NC 44-30861 (This plane is also being restored.)
- Bell P-63 Kingcobra - 43-11137 (This one is being fixed, and the museum has five more stored away!)
- Douglas A-20 Boston (You can see this plane just as it was found.)
- Nakajima B5N2 Kate (This is a very large part of a plane, including the main body and a wing section.)
- Douglas C-47 Dakota (This is the fuselage from the Band of Brothers TV show.)
- Hawker Hurricane (This is a wreck, showing how planes looked after a crash.)
- Handley Page Hampden TB.1 P1273 (Another wreck, showing its historical state.)
Airplane Cockpits
- Douglas A-26 Invader 43-22649
- Bristol Beaufighter 1f
- Curtis Helldiver SB2C-5 (This cockpit is stored.)
- Jet Provost XM486 (This cockpit is also stored.)
- English Electric Canberra (Another stored cockpit.)
- De Havilland Chipmunk WD377
- North American B-25 Mitchell
Flight Simulators
- Link trainer (This is a machine used to teach pilots how to fly.)
Aircraft Engines
- Rolls-Royce Merlin ×5 (One of these powerful engines can even run, like a living memorial!)
- Junkers Jumo 211
- Daimler Benz 610
See also
- List of aerospace museums
