The Heritage Lottery Fund has announced its support for the next phase of a Development Plan to transform the National Museum of Flight, located at East Fortune in East Lothian, Scotland.
The £3.6m project will see National Museums Scotland restore two nationally significant Second World War hangars and create new exhibitions within them.
The hangars are part of the East Fortune Airfield Scheduled Monument. Built in 1940-41, they were originally designed to last approximately ten years. The project will conserve the original building fabric of the hangars and to restore them to their original condition.
The aircraft on display in the hangers will benefit from the buildings being heated for the first time.
Once restored, these two hangars will focus on military aircraft and leisure and smaller civil aircraft.
A German-built rocket-powered ME 163 Komet; a Hawker Siddeley Harrier; and a Mark XVI Spitfire, are some of the military aircraft that will be on show.
The National Museum of Flight houses the majority of the national aviation collections that are in the care of National Museums Scotland.
The collections are one of the most significant in the United Kingdom and Europe, and comprise aircraft, engines, photographs, archives, models, flying clothing, instruments, ordnance and other equipment.
Further highlights of the collection include one of only two Vulcan bombers ever to have seen military action, the only major element of a Boeing 707 in the UK, a rare example of a Bristol Beaufighter, a type that operated from East Fortune during the Second World War and British Airway’s first operational Concorde.
The Scottish Government has pledged £1.8m to this phase of the Development Project and National Museums Scotland will now work with trusts, foundations and the corporate sector to secure the remaining funds to complete this phase of the project.
Gordon Rintoul, director of National Museums Scotland said: “We can now work up more detailed plans for the restoration of our two Second World War hangars and their transformation into two vibrant new display spaces, worthy of our internationally significant collections.
“The work will ensure that the National Museum of Flight remains one of the major aviation museums in Europe.”
