This is Bournemouth Aviation Museum – have a look around.
Author: Brian Butson
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Flight Simulator at the museum
This is our Flight Simulator based on a Cessna 172. It’s great fun to have a go at being a pilot. We have instructors to help you and it is very realistic. The simulator needs to be booked in advance so it’s best to email us at: simulator@bamhurn.org to discuss what you want and arrange a date and time for you to take-off!
We currently have around 60 volunteers doing a variety of tasks so if you are interested, come down and have a chat with us to see what we do and how you may be able to help. There are a variety of jobs available and you don’t need to have an aviation background or interest. We are a very friendly bunch of men and women and we always need more people to help run the museum.
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New areas of the museum now open
The newly expanded areas of the museum are now open. This includes a fully refurbished and enlarged shop area with more display space and improved entrance area. We now also have a new cabin specifically devoted to the local aviation heritage of Bournemouth and telling the story of how and why aviation is such an important and integral part of this area.
^ The new expanded entrance area and shop.
^ The Aviation Heritage Centre
^ The new Spitfire cafe/coffee shop open will be open certain days
^ New exhibit area with the Jersey Fire engine, Lynx helicopter and Royal Navy Hunter.
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The museum wins Trip Advisor award
News just in – We are again among the top 10% of worldwide things to do in the Travellers Choice awards according to Trip Advisor. This is based on visitor reviews, so thank you so much to all our visitors for their reviews and feedback. Thanks also to the museum volunteers for their hard work in continually trying to improve the museum and making it a great place for people of all ages to visit.
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New arrivals at the museum
We are pleased to announce two new arrivals at the museum. Firstly, we now have a new Volvo Saxon FL250 fire engine to replace the old Dodge fire engine which had been with the museum for many years. This was one of most popular exhibits but unfortuately the bodywork deterioration and rust had become too much so we had to look for a replacement. The new Volvo fire engine had been in service with Greater Manchester Fire Service since 2003 but they have now renewed their fleet so we are really pleased that MW52UDV has come to us. It’s in great condition and we hope to make it available for visitors to clamber into shortly.
The second new arrival is a London Taxi which is famous around the world for it’s unique design.
The new BAM Newsletter for Spring 2024 is now available on this website! Please go to the News section and click on the link to take you to the latest news complete with photos of everything going on at the museum.
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New Flight Simulator now taking off!
We now have a brand new flight simulator at the museum! It has been designed and hand-built by some of the volunteers at the museum and it is now ready and waiting for some new trainee pilots to come along and fly.
Click on the link below for full details of the Cessna 172 flight simulator.
Simulator-Bravo-Alpha-Mike-Brochure
New car parking arrangements have been introduced at Adventure Wonderland and Bournemouth Aviation Museum. This is to enable some of the excess car parking spaces on the large site to be utilized for short/long-term parking for passengers/friends from Bournemouth airport. The areas are clearly signposted so please make sure if you are visiting the Aviation Museum you park in the correct area.
All visitors to the Aviation Museum still have access to free car parking, but you must follow this procedure:
When first entering the museum, at the reception/cash desk you MUST enter your car registration on the tablet pad by the front door. This is to ensure that the car parking company is notifed that you are a museum visitor and eligible for free car parking. Failure to do this will result in that company making a penalty charge against you. Please note that the car parking company is not part of BAM and we have no control over any parking disputes.
A new addition to the museum’s collection of Royal Navy aircraft has arrived. The Hawker Hunter T8 WT722 was originally built as a type F4 and first flew on 4th February 1955. She was delivered to the RAF on 25th May 1955 and served with 54(F) and 26(F) Squadrons. In 1957 she was sold back to Hawkers who then converted the aircraft to a type T.8 before she was delivered to the Royal Navy in April 1959.
WT722 then served with 703 and 764 Naval Air Squadrons at RNAS Lossiemouth, and 759 NAS at Brawdy. In 1970, she was moved to RNAS Yeovilton and into service with the Air Direction Training Unit (ADTU). The aircraft was eventually retired from flying in 1994 after accumulating a total of 9,500 flying hours and 12,500 landings. Eventually she ended up at Newquay as part of the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Collection 2015, where she remained until the CAHC was forced to close in spring 2023. Thankfully, WT722 was bought by Bournemouth Aviation Museum where she arrived in early August 2023 and is now on display at the front entrance. In due course we hope to restore the aircraft to her former glory with a refurbishment and new paint job – watch this space.
