Museum - Solent Sky Museum in Southampton

Solent Sky has big plans for the future of heritage in Southampton - check out our brochure outlining our aims: PDF brochure: https://d520586d-1e39-4bf5-a856-03e18065459c.filesusr.com/ ...And take a look at the planning application on the Southampton City Council website https://planningpublicaccess.southampton.gov.uk//applicati... Tell us what you think! (Please note the details of aircraft included in exhibitions have yet to be determined.)

On this day in history - 18 January 1957. Operation 'Power Flite' Three Boeing B52B Stratofortresses land at March Air Force Base, California having completed the first non-stop circumnavigation of the globe by a jet aeroplane, and were refuelled in flight .... The 24,325 miles were flown at an average speed of 525mph over 45 hours and 19 minutes, and performed simulated bombing missions en route. The lead aeroplane was named 'Lucky Lady III', after 'Lucky Lady II', the Boeing B-50A Superfortress which was the first aeroplane to non-stop circumnavigate the globe in 1949, taking 94 hours 1 minute. ['Lucky Lady I' had been a Boeing B-29 Superfortress that in 1948 had also circumnavigated the globe, but without inflight refuelling, making eight landings and taking a flight time of 103 hours 50 minutes]. After the success of 'Lucky Lady II', Strategic Air Command's Commanding Officer, General Curtis LeMay was quoted as saying ''This shows that the United States Air Force can send bombers to any place in the world that requires the atomic bomb'' - an obvious warning to the USSR, as this was less than a year after the Soviets had detonated their own nuclear weapon. By 1957, the Cold War had ramped up - and the US Air Force, after the success of 'Operation Power Flite' told the press that ''The Air Force can now deliver a hydrogen bomb to anywhere in the world'' - updating LeMay's statement of eight years before. 1995 saw 'Operation Coronet Bat' saw four Rockwell B-1 Lancer bombers also circumnavigate the globe, dropping inert practice bombe on ranges en route. The two primary aircraft took a mere 36 hours 13 minutes, having been refuelled six times, with an average speed of 631mph. The four aircraft had 'interesting' 'nose art'!

On this day in history - 12 January 1866. The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain is founded in London. The society is still in existence today - better known as the Royal Aeronautical Society.

On this day in history - 18 January 2005. The official roll-out in Toulouse, France, of the world's largest capacity airliner - the Airbus A380-800. An enormous aeroplane, the 380 is truly European, with major parts being constructed in the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and France, and final assembly in France. She was designed to have a normal three-class passenger configuration of 555, with the option of a maximum economy class capacity of 853!... The 380 is 79 ft high, 238ft long, with a wing span of 261ft. There are two engine options - each of the four engines can generate 78,000lbf of thrust! To give a rough comparison, the RAF's Typhoon FGR4 has two afterburning turbojets giving a maximum thrust for each engine of 20,000st! It has a range of 8,500 nautical miles [the equivalent of flying non-stop from Sydney, Australia to Istanbul, Turkey]. 251 aircraft have been built to date, with production due to finish this year.

On this day in history - 12 January 1960. The death of Neville Shute Norway. Perhaps better known as the author, Neville Shute, Norway was actually an Oxford graduate in engineering, who used the brief version of his name as his pen-name, so as not to detract from his aeroengineering career.... Starting his engineering career with de Havilland, Norway moved to Vickers to be a stress engineer in theor airship division. Five years later, he was Deputy Chief Engineer on the R100 airship project under Barnes Wallis, shortly replacing him as Chief Engineer. The R100 was a very successful airship, flying a round trip to Canada, yet the government backed R101 was a complete can of worms, resulting in a tragic fatal crash in France en route to India in 1931. This crash effectively killed off the British airship related aircraft industry, even though the private venture R100 was an excellent airship. Norway and another design engineer, A Hessell Tiltman, decided to start their own aircraft company - Airspeed - in York, although Norway had already started upon a parallel career as a novelist, with many of his early works having a strong aviation connection. Several of their early products were filled with advanced technical innovations - the Courier and Envoy having retractable undercarriage - a novel idea in the mid-1930's. Airspeed moved to Portsmouth to large premises in 1933. The Second World War saw the company producing a military version of the Envoy as the Oxford - a trainer of which some 8,500 were built. During the Second World War, Norway was attached to the Royal Navy, involved in developing special weapons, particularly anti-submarine ones, and special weapons for D-Day. De Havilland effectively bought Airspeed in 1944, but continued the name, finishing with the graceful Airspeed Ambassador, or as BEA called it, the Elizabethan [Queen Elizabeth II had recently acceded to the throne]. Norway had long ceased to be directly involved in Airspeed, and his literary career had become extremely successful, with over 25 books to his name.

On this day in history - 12 January 1904. The birth of the Atcherley twins. Both were pilots in the Royal Air force, David had a long and decorated career, ending as an Air Vice Marshal, being killed flying a Meteor over the Mediterranean Sea in 1952.... Richard Atcherley also had a long RAF career, ending as Air Marshal Sir Richard Atcherley, AOC Training Command, then on his retirement from the RAF was Sales Director for Folland Aircraft Limited at Hamble. As a young man, he was a member of the High Speed Flight, competing in the 1929 Schneider Trophy Contest, flying Supermarine S6 N248. Unfortunately, he was disqualified - the oil spray from the engine obscured his goggles, and while he was putting a fresh pair on, the aircraft cut inside one of the race pylons, resulting in his disqualification. The particular aircraft is on show, restored, here at Solent Sky Museum. Richard Atcherley is on the far right of the team photograph, and the following is of David Atcherley.

On this day in history - 17 January 1991. Allied coalition forces commence Operation Desert Storm against the forces of Iraq, who had invaded the state of Kuwait the previous year. The British operation was entitled Operation Granby. Led by the United States, British ground forces were supported by Royal Air Force Tornados, Buccaneers and Jaguars who attacked key enemy locations in the hours of darkness, supported by RAF tankers.

On this day in history - 11 January 1992. The United States Federal Aviation Authority approves a helicopter rating for a student based solely on flight simulator performance - a first! On this day in history - 11 January 2011.... 'Global Observer' - an unmanned aircraft completes its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The aircraft is solely powered by a hydrogen-fuelled propulsion system. These events are history, but are they the future for aspects of aviation? Discuss!

On this day in history - 17 January 1948. First flight of a Royal Canadian Air Force De Havilland Vampire F3. The Vampire, Britain's second production jet fighter, was an export success story at the time of severe post-war austerity.... First flying as a prototype in 1943 [code-named 'Spider Crab'!], the Vampire jet fighter entered RAF service in March 1946 with 247 Squadron. As De Havilland were gearing up their Hatfield factory to produce the Comet jetliner, and were still producing the Hornet and some Mosquitos, production of the Vampire was sub-contracted to English Electric at Preston, and some variants were produced at the Airspeed/De Havilland plant at Christchurch [then in Hampshire]. The Vampire created many 'firsts' and held numerous records - the first jet aircraft to cross the Atlantic [six F3's of 54 Squadron in 1948]; flown by Gp Capt John Cunningham, the world's altitude record of 59,446ft also in 1948; the first RAF fighter to exceed 500mph; the first jet aeroplane to land on an aircraft carrier, and the first aeroplane to land without undercarriage on a flexible [rubber] carrier deck flown by 'Winkle' Brown [an interesting concept which didn't catch on!]. The RCAF bought 86 aircraft in kit form, and as in many other countries, the Vampire was an air force's first jet fighter - the next generation. 31 countries bought the Vampire, either as complete aircraft, in kit form or built under licence for their air forces and navies. A total of 3,268 were built of the varying marks, including two-seat night fighters and trainers - quite an production achievement in the late 1940's.

On this day in history - 11 January 1922. The birth of Sqn Ldr Neville Duke DSO OBE DFC** AFC FRAeS. World War II fighter pilot ace, and post-war famed test pilot.... At the age of 22, Duke had shot down 27 enemy aircraft, and was the highest scoring fighter pilot in the Mediterranean Theatre. In 1946, he completed No 4 Test Pilot course at the Empire Test Pilot School, and joined the High Speed Flight along with Sqn Ldr Bill Waterton [Gloster Test Pilot] and Gp Capt 'Teddy' Donaldson. 1948 saw him joining Hawkers as assistant Chief test pilot, becoming chief test pilot in 1951. At the 1951 Farnborough Air Show, tragedy struck when one of the prototype De Havilland DH 110 aircraft broke up, killing the crew and many spectators when the engines ploughed into the crowd. Duke immediately took off for his display in the Hawker P1067 [prototype Hunter] to give a faultess display. Continuing his test pilot duties at Hawker, on 7 September 1953, Duke set a new official World Speed Record in the bright red Hunter F3 WB188 of 727.63mph. He was forced to retire as a test pilot after two forced landings caused spinal injuries, however he continued to work in the aviation industry and fly light aircraft literally until the day of his death on 7 April 2007.

These amazing model buildings are part of a vast recreation of Southampton Hight Street in 1940 being constructed at Solent Sky as part of our upcoming new exhibition about the bombing of the city during WW2

Thank you to our volunteers for doing a thorough clean-up of the museum and the aeroplanes ready for our re-opening on Monday 14 December!

The trustees of Solent Sky are delighted to announce that the museum will re-open to the public on Monday 14 December in time for the Christmas holidays! During the November lockdown staff and volunteers at Solent Sky have been busy re-organising the museum for a major new exhibition opening next year. This is part of a Heritage Lottery Fund project to show how Southampton's residents endured the bombing of the city in 1940 while continuing to produce Spitfires in secret loca...tions like bus stations and garages. This exhibition will open in March 2021. This work has necessitated several aircraft being dismantled and then subsequently "mantled" within the museum to make space for the new displays. As a result the museum will re-open to the public on Monday 14 December. Please email [email protected] or phone 02380 635830 if you have any queries. We look forward to seeing you all very soon!

On this day in history - 16 January 1930. 23 year old Fg Off Frank Whittle, a young RAF officer applies for a patent of his design for a radical new type of engine - a jet engine. The concept had been thought of before, but had not deemed feasible. As an officer cadet at RAF College Cranwell, Whittle had written his final thesis in 1928 on what was termed a 'motorjet' - where a piston engine was used to produce thrust.... By 1930, Whittle had refined his idea to delete the piston engine entirely, and replace it with a large compressor, thus designing a centrifugal jet engine. He could gain no official backing for his ideas, both the Air Ministry and the RAF didn't see any future in such an engine, and eventually Whittle found that he couldn't afford the 5 needed to extend his patent, which then lapsed into the public domain as it was not deemed secret! Shortly afterwards, with two ex-RAF colleagues, the finance was raised to form an experimental company - Power Jets Ltd - and eventually in 1937 the first rough engine was bench run. At the same time, in Germany, Hans von Ohain at Heinkel and Herbert Wagner at Junkers were also designing jet engines, but along the co-axial lines, rather than centrifugal. They also struggled against beaurocracy, but to a far lesser extent than Whittle - and did at least have some backing from the German Air Ministry to build an engine. This meant that Germany had stolen a march on Britain, with the German Heinkel 178 flying on 27 August 1939 as the world's first jet powered aeroplane. Britain had to wait for nearly two years to see the Gloster E28/39 airborne from Cranwell on 15 May 1941. Fortunately for Britain, the development of a powerful enough engine, lack of cobalt for the high temperature turbine blades and political ignorance meant that Germany's first production jet fighter, the Me 262, did not enter service until 1944, shortly before Britain's Gloster Meteor, powered by Whittle's engines. Had Whittle been backed at the early stages, it is quite possible that the Meteor, and the later Vampire could have been in service two or three years earlier than their service entry.

On this day in history - 10 January 1919. The first conversion of a wartime Airco [De Havilland] DH4 and DH4A bomber into a passenger aircraft was produced. Used to ferry dignitaries from London to Paris for the Versailles Peace Conference by Aircraft Transport and Travel, and also by the Royal Air Force's No 2 Communication Squadron. At the request of Andrew Bonar Law, then Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons, the seven RAF aircraft were converted to have an e...nclosed rear cabin for two people. Nine further aircraft were similarly converted and used by AT and T, Handley Page Transport, the Belgian airline SNETA, with one aircraft used by Instone Air Lines - Instone was merged with other airlines in 1924 to form Imperial Airways. See more

While researching for our upcoming Southampton Blitz exhibition opening March 2021 we discovered the war diaries of Southampton's balloon squadron - read our blog to learn about these (mostly) women who defended Southampton from enemy bombers! https://www.solentsky.org/post/the-balloon-goes-up

More pictures of the HUGE High Street model now under construction a Solent Sky as part of a new Lottery Heritage Funded Project about the bombing of Southampton in 1940. The museum will be opening to the public again on Monday 14 December so stop by for a preview of the exhibition under construction!

On this day in history - 14 January 1942. The first flight of the Sikorsky R-4 - the world's first modern production helicopter, which played a useful part in the latter stages of World War II in Burma, China and the South Pacific. Entering service with the Royal Air Force as the Hoverfly I, at RAF Andover, Hampshire on initially the Helicopter Training Flight, where pilots from the three Services were introduced to this new type of aircraft, then also on 529 and 657 Squadron...s as radar calibration, replacing the Cierva C.30 autogyros and as Army cooperation aircraft. Some Hoverflys were also passed to the Fleet Air Arm for contunuing shipboard training. Sikorsky developed the R-6, a more powerful, strengthened and streamlined upgrade, which for the RAF and FAA became the Hoverfly II. As more powerful and therefore more versatile helicopters were developed and introduced, both as US imports and also from Britain's home-grown aircraft industry, in the shape of the Skeeter, Dragonfly and Sycamore, the Hoverflys were retired in the early 1950's, however they had succeeded in showing just how versatile and how much potential such an aircraft had for the future.

Remember Solent Sky is re-opening Monday 14 December so put us in your diary for the Xmas Hols! In the meantime take a look at this history of Southampton's first aviator, aircraft manufacturer, and WW1 hero, Edwin Rowland Moon... https://www.solentsky.org//sqn-ldr-edwin-rowland-moon-sout

During research for our Southampton Blitz Exhibition opening in 2021 our archives dept discovered diaries from the local Barrage Balloon Squadrons which kept detailed accounts of the bombing of the city. Here is a history of the (mainly) women who protected the south coast of England from the Nazi bombers... https://www.solentsky.org/post/the-balloon-goes-up

Remembering the Supermarine workers ,who lost their lives in the bombing of the factory , sept 24th and 26th 1940

In early 2021 we will be opening a major new Lottery Heritage Funded exhibition focusing on the damage Southampton suffered during the Blitz. There are so many stories to tell, one of which is the mystery of the Nazi bomber parked photographed at Southampton airport in the summer of 1940 - read our blog to learn more! https://www.solentsky.org//southampton-s-mystery-nazi-bomb

SPITFIRE FACTORY DESTROYED DURING AIR RAID. 80 years ago today at 1600hrs 60+ enemy aircraft in two waves attacked Southampton. The Supermarine works was destroyed, killing 48 people and injuring 94 others, while 1464 houses were damaged.

Hampshire's Space Rockets - check out our latest article covering the secret history of Britain's Space Programme https://www.solentsky.org/post/hampshire-s-space-rockets

On 25 September 1953 a Supermarine Swift piloted by Mike Lithgow broke the world speed record at 753.7mph - now that's what I call low-level flying!

Thank you to F.H. Brundle Southampton for supplying new fencing to surround our magnificent Calshot Spit Lightship - as an independent museum Solent Sky relies on support from local industry and we are very grateful for this assistance. https://www.fhbrundle.co.uk/

80 years ago today at 1624hrs a second daylight raid was launched on Southampton as enemy aircraft continued their assault on the Spitfire factory. Bombs fell in Peartree and Radstock Road, damaging 563 houses. 1 person was killed and a further 7 were injured.

80 years ago today at 1335hrs, thirty seven bombers escorted by a formation of fighters attacked Southampton in the first of two daylight raids which attempted to destroy the Spitfire factory in Woolston. Over a thousand buildings sustained heavy damage, but the Supermarine works suffered only light damage. 36 people lost their lives, and 176 more people were injured.

The Supermarine flag flying outside Southampton Civic Centre today 80 years after the bombing of the Spitfire factory in Woolston during the Battle of Britain.

Happy 90th birthday to our volunteer Peter Dimmick - older than most of the exhibits! :D

Supermarine bombed! On this day 80 years ago at 1739 hrs enemy aircraft bombed Southampton in an attempt to destroy the Spitfire factory in Woolston. On this occasion they were unsuccessful but worse was yet to come...

Expert model-maker David Glenn spent over seven years constructing this magnificent Spitfire IX which is now on display at Solent Sky

Southampton Airport Bombed! 80 years ago today at 16:04hrs enemy aircraft crossed the Channel at Lymington and flew over Romsey and Chandler's Ford before turning south to attack the aircraft factories at Eastleigh. The newly constructed hangar at Cunliffe Owen was completely destroyed and a number of bombs fell on the aerodrome. 46 people were killed during the raid 48 were seriously injured 41 were slightly injured

Commemorating the workers who tragically died when the Cunliffe-Owen aircraft factory at Southampton Airport 80 years ago today during the Battle of Britain.

This 1/5 scale all-metal model took it's maker 7 years to build - check back tomorrow for a video feature on the world's most detailed Spitfire model!

80 years ago today at 2147 hrs a large number of enemy aircraft crossed the South Coast. Incendiary bombs fell in Lyndhurst, starting fires. Part of a series chronicling the bombing of Southampton during the Battle of Britain