The Fleet Air Arm Museum is hosted adjacent to RNAS Yeovilton, an operational air base home to more than 100 aircraft and some 4,300 personnel. The museum tells the story, which begins in 1909, of the Royal Navy in the air. The Royal Naval Air Service was founded in 1914, merged into the Royal Air
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HMS M33 was built as a Royal Navy monitor in 1915 and is one of just three surviving Royal Navy ships from the First World War. She served at Gallipoli and Salonika and in 1919 was sent to northern Russia to support the anti-Bolshevik forces. In the 1920s, she was renamed ‘Minerva’ and given a
The Military Intelligence Museum is the only museum in the United Kingdom that showcases the often secret work military intelligence, from the Napoleonic era onwards. The collection is rooted in the work of the Intelligence Corps but elements of Royal Navy and Royal Air Force intelligence sit alongside those of the Army and the museum
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Tyneham is probably Dorset’s most famous lost village, frozen in time. In 1943, during the Second World War, the villagers were ordered to leave their homes so that the area could be used for military training; they never returned. Empty buildings remain, plus the school and church, offering a fascinating insight into life in isolated
The Royal Navy Submarine Museum at Gosport tells the fascinating story of the RN’s Submarine Service from the early 20th Century to the modern nuclear powered fleet. Centre stage are three preserved vessels – HMS Alliance (pictured), launched in 1945 and re-equipped in the 1960s for a role in the Cold War; Holland 1, the
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HMS Warrior was world’s first armour-plated, iron-hulled warship, a 40-gun steam-powered frigate, albeit with sails too, launched in London in 1860. She rendered every other naval ship obsolete at the time, but was herself out of date by 1871. Warrior was rescued from use as an oil jetty and restored to her 1860 condition over
The RAF Museum in Hendon is a spectacular aircraft museum on the site of the historic Hendon aerodrome, just over 30 minutes from central London by tube to Colindale and a walk from there, or by car from J4 of the M1. Entry to the museum is free. There is parking on site, but there
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The Tank Museum at Bovington is an extraordinary place. It is the museum of the Royal Armoured Corps and is located adjacent to the military base, Bovington Camp. It was, apparently, Rudyard Kipling’s suggestion that a tank museum should be set up and it opened to the public in 1947. The museum now has more
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is an aerial display team flying historic aircraft. They appear at shows throughout the country, on state occasions and at events commemorating the Second World War. The aircraft normally flown are an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane and they are all veterans of the
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HMS Victory, the world’s oldest naval ship still in commission, was Admiral Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. After that victory, the Royal Navy was unchallenged for 100 years. A visit to this icon of Empire is fascinating.
