Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Shuttleworth Collection

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Established
  
1928

Phone
  
+44 1767 627927

Founded
  
1928


Address
  
Old Warden Aerodrome, Hill Ln, Biggleswade SG18 9EP, UK

Hours
  
Open today · 9:30AM–5PMSunday9:30AM–5PMMonday9:30AM–5PMTuesday9:30AM–5PMWednesday9:30AM–5PMThursday9:30AM–5PMFriday9:30AM–5PMSaturday9:30AM–5PMSuggest an edit

Similar
  
Imperial War Museum, Royal Air Force Museum, Swiss Garden, Stockwood Discovery Centre, Royal Air Force Museum

Aircraft of the shuttleworth collection 60 minute film


The Shuttleworth Collection is an aeronautical and automotive museum located at the Old Warden Aerodrome, Old Warden in Bedfordshire, England. It is one of the most prestigious in the world due to the variety of old and well-preserved aircraft.

Contents

History

The collection was founded in 1928 by aviator Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth. While flying a Fairey Battle at night on 2 August 1940, Shuttleworth fatally crashed. His mother, in 1944, formed the Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth Remembrance Trust "for the teaching of the science and practice of aviation and of afforestation and agriculture."

Collection

Restoration and maintenance work is carried out by a staff of nine full-time and many volunteer engineers. These volunteers are all members of the 3,000-strong Shuttleworth Veteran Aeroplane Society (SVAS). These dedicated enthusiasts are crucial to the preservation and restoration of the collection.

In addition to the aircraft, the collection houses a number of vintage and veteran cars. Events include model-flying days, and once a year, there is a special flying day for schools in the area.

The Shuttleworth Collection puts an emphasis on restoring as many aircraft as possible to flying condition, inline with the founder's original intention. There are typically about twelve air shows per year, including evening displays, which offer the opportunity to see aircraft which in many cases are the last of their type to survive, let alone existing in flyable condition.

The Edwardian flying machines

Some of the most notable aircraft in the collection are the five Edwardian aeroplanes, of which one is the oldest British aeroplane still in flying condition. What makes these exceptional is that they still fly (weather permitting). The oldest, with British civil registration G-AANG, is the Bleriot XI (still with original engine), which dates back to 1909 - six years after the Wright brothers' aircraft and the world's oldest airworthy aeroplane, the next oldest being, at only three weeks newer by date of manufacture, the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's own restored original Bleriot XI (Bleriot factory serial number 56, with civil registration N60094) in the United States.

Aircraft in the collection

Also resident, but privately owned:

  • Druine Turbi
  • Fieseler Storch GSTCH
  • Luscombe Silvaire
  • Miles M3a Falcon G-AEEG
  • Miles M14a Hawk Trainer N3788 G-AKPF
  • Westland Wallace replica fuselage
  • De Havilland DH89A Rapide G-AGSH painted as British European Airways
  • Vehicles in the collection

    There is also a collection of tractors.

    References

    Shuttleworth Collection Wikipedia