Solway Aviation Museum

About

Take a Step Back in time! The Solway Aviation Museum has something for everyone, with aircraft and exhibits displayed internally and externally you can visit us whatever the weather. Whether you see yourself as an aviation enthusiast or simply a curious explorer, Solway Aviation Museum has something to offer.

Based on the site of RAF Crosby-on-Eden, a former WWII Operational Training Unit Station, the museum has been painstakingly created by a team of highly committed volunteers over a fifty-year period. The museum tells the story of aviation in the region, its many airfields, characters, and the county’s vital role during WWII and it is home to the mighty AVRO Vulcan XJ823 along with a growing collection of military aircraft which were designed and built in Britain during the Cold war. The museum also exhibits many thousands of items from aircraft engines to the Bluestreak Rocket programme.

On entering the museum, you travel back through time through an air shelter and emerge into the 1940’s with displays of bombed out buildings and a diorama of some of the areas of RAF Crosby-on-Eden, you can also read up about the many airfields both RAF and Royal Navy located within Cumberland.

There is the RAF Spadeadam room which shows the ongoing work of the Largest Electronic War Games station in Europe and the fascinating history of Britain’s Rocket Programme BLUESTREAK.

Moving along into the main building there is our information room which changes every year, for 2024 it’s the centenary of flight.

The next rooms contain Uniforms and aircraft escape and radio equipment, with a video display provided by Martin Baker the ejector seat manufacturer.

Across the hall is the history of Carlisle Airport in its civilian role from the early 60’s to present times.

Externally are the aircraft, our Vulcan tour is part of the entry fee and must be booked on arrival, the space is limited and a strict first come first in system is in place.

The museum is open from 13th March 2024 to the end of October 2024 on Friday, Saturday & Sundays 10.30 to 5.00pm, New for 2024 - Summer Mondays from June 24th to September 2nd. We are also open Bank Holidays. Please see our website for more information.

Campaign to save Big Bev!

The Solway Aviation Museum is raising funds to save and preserve the last Blackburn Beverley, currently located at Fort Paull near Hull and transport the whole aircraft to it’s base at Carlisle Lake District Airport in Cumberland.

If successful, the plans will see Beverley XB259 dismantled and transported from its present location  at Fort Paull, Hull, to Carlisle Airport to join the museum’s vast collection of historic aircraft – including the enormous Avro Vulcan XJ823.

The idea entails disassembling the Beverley XB259, transporting its parts, and reassembling them at the museum – all overseen by a seasoned team of museum volunteers.

For more information and how to donate, please visit our museum’s Blackburn Beverley XB259 JustGiving donation page.

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