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The Midland Air Museum is near Baginton in Warwickshire, and is adjacent to Coventry Airport. The museum includes the Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre (named after the local aviation pioneer and inventor of the jet engine), a smaller hangar, and a fenced-off green area where many aircraft are on display in the open.
The museum's two largest aircraft are an Avro Vulcan B.2 and an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy AW.650 (series 101). The Vulcan together with an Avro Blue Steel missile is on display near the museum's car park. There is also a Boulton Paul BP.111A, an experimental delta-winged aircraft of the 1950s.
History
Starting in 1967 by a small group of local aircraft enthusiasts and called the 'Midland Aircraft Preservation Society', they started to collect books, photographs and aircraft parts.
In 1975 a lease was secured for a small plot of land on the North side of Coventry airport which laid the foundations for a permanent museum which later in 1977 became the 'Midland Air Museum'. The museum opened to the public with just five aircraft in April 1978 and became a Charitable Trust with Educational Charity status in 1979.
The museum acquired the Vulcan bomber in 1983, the Argosy freighter in 1987, and then further developed by moving onto its present site and establishing the Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre. A World War II Robin Hangar was acquired and erected in 1995 giving the Museum valuable covered space for restoration projects and displays.
After a period of consolidation several new exhibits were acquired from the late 1990s onwards including the iconic MiG-21, and revolutionary Sea Harrier 'jump jet'
During 2008 the Museum was awarded National Accreditation status and plans to build on its continued success in the future.
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